Red and not so White
by Broken Blood Jade
Summary: The Akashi family had a legend. If twins were born, and if it was a boy and a girl, they must separate the twins. They would keep the boy and give the girl away. If the twins ever met and fell in love, then it would simply mean fate. [Akashi x OC and other pairings] The story begins after Christmas on Akashi's first year of high school.
1. Year 1 - Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I will try to update this fanfic weekly.

Warning: This is an **incest** fanfic. Everything is fictional. ...And there may be other minor mistakes, for example: grammar and typos.

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_"What lies beneath the enchanting snowflakes floating gently from heaven to earth?"_ –Simon Jacobson

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**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 1**

* * *

_She loved snow. The way they fell from the sky made her chest tightened. When they made contact with an object or a living being, they would simply disappear. That caused her to feel incomplete. Because to her, snow seemed like an imperfect form, only meant to just vanish upon all contact. However, the different shapes of snowflake were captivating. For such little existence, who would care if they disappeared?_

_With a sadistic smirk, she enjoyed the imperfect, yet beautiful forms dying on the warmth of the earth. She believed no matter how perfect a human being were, they would all meet the same end._

_Everyone was as incomplete as she was. No one was perfect._

"Shiroseeeeee."

The girl's smile faded away when her friend called. Her head were on her arms that were leaning against the wide opened window. She was sitting on her ankles on the seat of the black sofa. A hand touched her long, thin, white hair and she turned her red eyes to meet a pair of eyes that were shady gray. "Hmm?" Shirose tilted her head a bit as she wondered what was up.

Her friend had thick, shoulder-length black hair and her bangs were just as long. It was tangled and messy, kept down without a single hair tie. "You kept the window opened for five minutes already," her friend said, staring down with a sulking attitude. "And it's not good for your health."

Outside where the sun was barely setting, the snow was a foot deep. Shirose, her neck-length hair was left untied as well and her bangs curled to her skin a little. "Just five more minutes, Kurosawa," she closed her eyes to rest them.

Kurosawa reached out to the window and slammed it down to close it. Her white hair friend pouted with her eyes closed and said nothing. "And we should take down those Christmas lights," Kurosawa moved around to walk across the living room. On all four walls of the living room, red and white Christmas lights were on a green wired that went around.

"Aw," Shirose demurely opened her eyes. She still kept her head on her arms and her red eyes followed where her friend went. "Just a few more days, please? I love Christmas lights."

"Then get off your ass and stop me," Kurosawa sighed. She stood next to the doorway to the dining room. Her right hand reached to the hanging Christmas lights and she tugged it down roughly.

"Geez, Kurosawa's mean," Shirose was pouting yet again. "You know I can't win against you in strength."

"I'm glad you can't," Kurosawa continued her path of destruction. She walked around, ripping the wired lights off of the high wall quite lazily.

Shirose slanted her head to the right and her bangs softly touched her left cheek. "Kurosawa-_sama_, please at least do it carefully," she pleaded quietly. When she used –sama, she meant it sarcastically.

Not listening, Kurosawa grabbed the wired lights tighter and pulled it back as hard as possible. All of the Christmas lights came falling down and a few fell onto Shirose's lap. The albino girl whined softly and tugged on the lights playfully. "There we go," Kurosawa threw the lights in her hand to the ground.

A heavy sigh came from Shirose's lips. "Kurosawa's mean…"

\~o~/

Kise was on the phone with Akashi. "Our closing ceremony is already over, Akashicchi." He grinned with his ear pressing against the phone on his right shoulder. Kise was busy signing autographs in front of his school and he still had six more other girls waiting in line. "There you go," Kise smiled to the girl in the front.

"Thank you, Kise-san!" the girl bowed politely before running off.

With a smile, Kise listened to Akashi on the phone. "Ryota, have you decide who to bring along yet?"

Kise smirked, "Of course. Two of my Senpais will be tagging with us."

"All right then," Akashi said. "I will see the three of you in Otaru next Monday morning."

"Right!" Kise beamed with a light chuckle. "See you then." He had just signed the second autograph and then hung up. Handing the signed autograph back, the girl took it shyly and ran off to catch up with her friend.

_Last week, before the exams, Akashi invited the Generation of Miracles to a winter vacation to Otaru. And if they wanted to, they could bring a few other friends along as well. It was Akashi's treat too, so who would want to miss out on that? As unusual as that rare offer was, everyone agreed to go on that vacation together._

_Kise was not certain who else was coming along, but he knew Kuroko and Kagami were planning on coming with the other Generation of Miracles and with their own friends. But then Kise thought back to how Akashi brought up the idea. Oh, right. Murasakibara was complaining about the snow in Akita. As in Tokyo, Kyoto, and in Kanagawa, there was not much snow. And in response, Kise wanted to experience a lot of snow. Maybe make a snowman and play snowball fights._

_That was when Akashi suggested the plan. Simply because everyone was talking about it through texting._

After signing all of the autographs, Kise looked around to see if any of his senpais were around waiting for him. But he did not see any of them. With a smile, he thought, _I can't wait to go on that vacation_. It would be such a nice change of pace. _Maybe I'll meet more fans over in Otaru too_. He smiled to himself, putting his hands into his pockets to avoid the cold.

\~o~/

The sound of basketball shot through the hoop. Midorima lowered his arms and stared at the ball that bounced on the gym floor. "Shin-chan, did anyone else said they were interested in going with us yet?" Takao called positively.

Midorima's eyes shifted to the corner of his eyes, noticing Takao waving to him from the doorway. "…It'll be just you and me," he answered unconcernedly.

"Huh?" Takao frowned. "That's too bad! I was hoping all of us would go!" Takao smirked and turned around, "Let me go and confront them right now."

Grabbing for another basketball from the cart nearby, Midorima focused on his shooting again. _They already said they didn't want to come_, Midorima said to himself. And the reason was either because of Midorima or Akashi.

\~o~/

"So it'll be Sakurai and Imayoshi-senpai," Momoi smiled, texting to Akashi. She sent it right away and closed her pink phone. Her eyes fixed over to Aomine, who was playing against Wakamatsu and Sakurai at the same time. When Wakamatsu had the ball, Momoi asked loudly, "Are you sure you don't want to come, Wakamatsu-senpai?"

Aomine stole the ball from Wakamatsu like a child's play and scored a dunk right after. Annoyed, Wakamatsu's head snapped to where Momoi was. "Yes! I am sure!" he told her, trying not to yell. It was the sixth time she asked.

"I'm sorry!" Sakurai bowed to Wakamatsu. "I couldn't stop Aomine! I'm sorry!"

Wakamatsu glared to the shorter boy, "I know, shut up already!"

Bored to death, Aomine glanced to the two of them and looked away. "Can I practice against the whole group?" he questioned, his head tilting over to Imayoshi.

"Ha, no," Imayoshi smirked. "We're doing this Momoi's way."

Aomine sagged his head dramatically and really wanted to yawn. _Why did we have to practice after the closing ceremony? _He asked himself, rubbing the back of his head exasperatingly.

\~o~/

"I'm tired of snow," Murasakibara whined hopelessly.

Himuro chuckled, walking with the tall guy. They had just left a small convenient store. As saddened as Murasakibara was, he munched on his snacks like there was no tomorrow. There was no snow falling from the sky, but the road was filled with them and the air was freezing. "Winter will end in the next month or so," Himuro smiled.

"Maybe by the end of May," the tall young man mumbled with his doubts. The long winter seemed to last forever for him.

_As for these two, they were the only ones going to the winter vacation with the others. Their teammates all said they were busy and all kinds of sort. Or maybe they did not want to travel north, where there would be even more snow._

\~o~/

"Kuroko and I will be taking the plane to fly to Otaru," Kagami was telling Aida. And Kuroko was nodding, holding Tetsuya Two in his cozy arms. They were on the sidewalk and their school was just a block away.

Aida blinked a couple of times before stating, "So it's just the two of you. Why are you telling me this?"

"Er," Kagami squinted his eyes at her. "I just wanted to double check with you, ma'am. Cause… I don't want you to snap when we're gone for an entire week."

She chuckled and smiled, "Thanks for checking then. You and Kuroko will be fine. It's not like I'll forget once you're both gone. Everyone is free from training for the break too."

"Right," Kagami nodded, bowing to her.

Kuroko wore a faint smile and he said, "Then we'll be off."

She winked the moment she walked away. "Okay," she nodded. "You two have fun now! You both deserve it!"

Kagami and Kuroko waved at the same time and Tetsuya Two barked as a farewell. Kagami flinched when the dog barked and rushed away. "Kagami-kun?" Kuroko blinked over to him. "Do you think we can bring Tetsuya Two along?"

"Hah?!" Kagami snapped his eyes to him. Tetsuya Two was wagging his tail and Kuroko was blinking innocently. "I don't know! But you better not bring him along, you hear me?!"

"Hmm," Kuroko was sad. Kagami ignored him and walked away without another word. Kuroko lifted Tetsuya Two higher to look at him in the eyes. "…Maybe I'll ask Akashi-kun." Tetsuya Two backed happily in agreement.

\~o~/

"Hey, we're going to have a group of guests coming over next Monday," Kurosawa softly hit a clipboard on Shirose's head. "You remember that, right?"

The two girls were filing papers away at the front counter. With Kurosawa behind the counter, Shirose was on the other side, flipping through note cards in small box. She did not look up when the clipboard touched her head. "Yeah, I remember," she only murmured, searching for a certain note card.

Kurosawa frowned and waited a few seconds. Her white-hair friend was still going through the note cards and then she searched over again. "Alright, stop pretending," Kurosawa used the clipboard to hit her head again.

With a soft giggle, Shirose's eyes brightened up to meet Kurosawa's cool gaze. "I'm just feeling tired to listen to work," Shirose admitted, taking the clipboard. Her eyes stared at the names listed.

"Well, you better get some rest after this," Kurosawa advised, her hands moving to organized the folders. "And I'll tell the other girls to prepare arranging everything here… since we hadn't had any guest for the past month. We _seriously_ have to clean up."

"Colors of the rainbow."

Kurosawa lifted her eyes from the folders and stared at her friend's small smile. And Shirose was still looking at the clipboard amusingly. "…What?" Kurosawa questioned.

"Not really a rainbow, but these people's last names have colors of the rainbow in them," Shirose smiled wider, showing the clipboard to the other girl. "Isn't that cool? I wonder if they're all friends if they're coming in as a group."

"Obviously they're friends," Kurosawa frowned to her. "If they were relatives, most of their last names should have been the same. Don't you think?"

Shirose smirked, "Kurosawa's smart."

Kurosawa took the clipboard and gently hit her albino friend's head again. "Shut up and let's do a little more cleaning of these papers and folders," she ordered.

"Yes," Shirose chuckled quietly.

_That group of friends would arrive next Monday. Shirose remembered Kurosawa mentioned they reserved the place a week ago, but the caller did not particularly say how much people there would be. The least were about seven people and the caller mentioned there might be more later on._

_Shirose wondered what kind of people they were. She always loved meeting new people and observed their beautiful personalities like how she studied snowflakes._

Next to Kurosawa, the phone rung and she picked it up right away. "Little House of Otaru," she greeted with a monotone voice.

"This is Akashi Seijuro."

"Hello," Kurosawa placed the clipboard on the counter. As for Shirose, she was finally getting her hands to start working and picked the piles of folders together carefully. "Do you now have a definite number of people, sir?"

"Eight more have confirmed. And a small dog."

Kurosawa blinked, "Alright then. That means fifteen people in total, plus a pet. And as we've discussed before, you can pay half through online. And when you come to stay with us, you can pay the other half when you leave if you were satisfied with our services."

"I will pay everything through online."

"How very kind of you, sir," Kurosawa nodded to herself, still using a monotone voice. "If you wish to do so, then I will not stop you. Thank you for considering us. We will be sure to serve with _awesome_ hospitably."

Akashi had a pause for some reason. "…That is all," he said.

"Goodbye," Kurosawa said indifferently. She quickly hung up and returned the phone back. "Oh, gosh, we have fifteen of them coming over. There are enough rooms for them to share, but we need to hire a couple more people for this." Kurosawa was not panicking, even her voice was calm, but she was flipping through other folders rapidly. "Where are those resumes?"

"Right here," Shirose handed them out. All of the papers were stacked and clipped neatly.

"Thanks, Shirose," Kurosawa took them from her and begun looking through them. "I'll be fine now. Go get some rest. Thanks for helping me."

Shirose smiled and put her hands behind her. "I'll get up early and do some cleaning first," she offered. Kurosawa nodded and waved her hand to dismiss her. Shirose spun around on her right foot and walked off to the stairs that were on the right side of the wall.

_Starting on Monday, a fateful encounter would take place. Nothing would probably change and nothing remarkable would happen. The fall of the snowflake never ended dramatically, only quietly. The flow of their lives would be smooth and slow… and would simply vanished when it was all over._

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Author's note: Thanks for reading! A review would be awesome, just so I know how this is going.


	2. Year 1 - Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I have something to confess… I haven't read the manga and I only kept up with the Anime. And so. I have to work on Akashi a little more, as SeraphineHeartfilia had pointed out to me. FORGIVE ME! I shall do my best to keep Akashi in character!

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**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 2**

* * *

Located in Tokyo Haneda Airport, Midorima was carrying nothing but a stuffed snowman in his left palm. It had a mini green scarf, black dotted eyes, and a carrot nose. Following behind Midorima was Takao. The poor guy was carrying one huge green bag over his right shoulder and another huge black bag on the other. Dragging in the rear of Takao was two large black suitcases with wheels in both of his hands.

…And Takao did not look so good carrying all of those at the same time.

"Good evening," a soft voice closely said.

Takao smiled and directed his eyes to Kuroko on the left. The boy with the empty pale blue eyes was walking up next to the Hawk Eye user. "Hey there, Kuroko," Takao greeted with a happy grin.

It would appear Kagami was lagging behind, carrying his own troubles of baggages. A vein was popping on top of his head too. And as for Kuroko, he was not carrying a single thing, aside from holding onto a friendly, plastic, blue cage where Tetsuya Two was in.

Kagami exclaimed angrily, "I can't believe you _actually_ brought him along!"

With his head tilted back, Kuroko defended, "But Akashi-kun said it was okay."

"Do I look like I care?!" Kagami retorted.

"Aw!" Takao grinned. "So you brought Tetsuya Two along? This is going to be one great week!" Tetsuya Two barked merrily as he pocked his nose through the plastic fence.

Midorima sighed and gently pushed his glasses higher to his eyes. He was ahead of the three young men and hoped not to look back at his friends' idiocy. Much to his demise, he caught sight of Momoi, Aomine, Sakurai and Imayoshi just ahead of him. It appeared the four of them were waiting around and chatting. _This is going to be a long ride_, Midorima judged with a hint of annoyance at the back of his mind.

In that instant. "Ah," Momoi smiled, her eyes catching the incoming group. "Tetsu-kun!" Her hand waved high, calling out to him as well as the other guys. The moment Midorima approached them, keeping his distances; Momoi beamed up to regard him. "Good evening, Midorin!"

The greenhead merely nodded. Takao rushed forward, leaving Kuroko and Tetsuya 2 by themselves. "Isn't this great!" Takao grinned widely, using his right shoulder to nudge Midorima's arm. "I can't believe we're actually going! I can't wait to play snowball fight!"

Sakurai suddenly looked terrified, fearing snowball fights would only turn dreadful because of _some_ uncontrolled men. "Ha… haha…" Sakurai forced a smile, only wishing hard to show his enthusiasm.

With lips curling up into a smirk, Imayoshi uttered, "I'm looking forward to that as well, since I never lived anywhere near a place with a lot of snow."

Setting the suitcases to stand by themselves, Takao threw his hands in the air. "Thank you, Akashi!" Takao cheered before snorting at himself. Not that he would actually say it in front of the intimidating redhead, but he wanted to express the excitement and hope the others would get in the mood too.

However. "You're that eager?" Aomine frowned to him. "I could be home right now and sleep all week." Takao just laughed and his hands reached for the handles of the suitcases again.

Momoi quickly met the bluehead's face and her hands on her hips. Her lips were pouting, "You know you shouldn't do that, Aomine-kun! It's good to keep your body moving!" And thank goodness Akashi got this big guy to come.

After which Kuroko and Kagami showed up at their sides with all of that talking, Kise's voice was heard, "Hey, everyone!"

Every person, aside from Aomine, angled their heads over to the left side of the spacious room. A crowd was forming, but they could tell Kise's hair apart from the wave of shorter people. And Kise was waving with both arms in the air. Was he _that_ excited? All the while Kise's body walked out of the crowd; there was Kasamatsu and Moriyama right behind him. Each of them carried two suitcases.

"Looks like the gang is here," Kasamatsu remarked as soon as they all gathered into one group. "We should hurry up and put our belongings—"

"There's a cute girl right over there!" Moriyama interrupted quickly, his head facing to the right. "Do you think we're going to be on the same plane?"

Aomine bothered to look around, "Does she have big tits?"

Kise chuckled and walked next to Kuroko, almost hitting Kagami in the process. "Let's hurry already! To Otaru!" Kise eagerly encouraged.

"Yeah!" Takao grinned where as Midorima had already walked off first.

Imayoshi smiled and put his arm around Sakurai's neck, "Then off we go."

"Y-Yes!" Sakurai cracked a smile, being pulled by Imayoshi and they went off after the silent Midorima.

Everybody begun moving their feet and Tetsuya 2 emitted a bark, as if declaring the start of a new story.

\~o~/

"Seems like Kuro-chin and the others in Tokyo are getting on the plane now," Murasakibara lazily blinked to the phone in his hand.

He was scanning through his phone and received a text from Kuroko, who had asked if he and Himuro were doing okay. In the center of the airplane seats, where Murasakibara and Himuro were in, which they were not by any windows, Himuro had taken a bag of chips from the bag on the ground. He handed it to Murasakibara and simply nodded. Their plane in Akita had just departed and was about to take flight.

"Be… safe," Murasakibara mumbled as he typed the words into his phone.

Himuro had also grabbed a small jar of pickles, but then he paused. He did not wish to let the smell bother others and decided against it right after. "Atsushi, have Akashi texted about his departure?" Himuro inquired, leaning back against the seat.

"Ah… yeah," Murasakibara closed his cell phone. His eyes squinted for a second and he put his phone away into his pocket. "I think his plane already left first?" He could not recall it and was too lazy to check his phone again.

Whereas Murasakibara was opening his bag of chips, Himuro checked his phone. "It's really too bad our teammates did not want to come," he quietly said to himself.

"Hmmm, forget about them," Murasakibara mumbled, nipping on the first chip. "They're lucky to be staying in their cozy homes. It was for their own good." Himuro chuckled to him in spite the fact that his eyes were still on his phone. "It's only true."

Himuro smiled, closing his phone. "I'm sure you'll have fun before you know it," he glanced to his friend.

The tall young man had his doubts again. "…I'll believe you, Muro-chin," he mumbled grumpily. "…Maybe I'll make a snow angel. _Lots_ of them too." Only because doing that did not require a lot of movement.

His eyes closed. "Sure," Himuro raised his hand to lean his chin on it.

\~o~/

There was a text that read from Momoi: _Akashi-kun, we are all safely on the plane! We'll see you in Otaru!_ She was the second person to state that. And the first was Kise.

Akashi flipped his phone closed and his eyes looked over to the window next to him. There were a lot of clouds today and it covered up the earth below.

_The seat next to him was emptied. Mayuzumi was supposed to be here, but he called in sick. Akashi had already foreseen this earlier before he left his home, only the half of the reason was Mayuzumi really did not want to go to Otaru. Not that it mattered though. The whole plane was quite pleasant with the quietness and whispers would go back and forth. Other than that, it was peaceful. Something Akashi personally enjoyed._

Mentally finding it as an appropriate time, Akashi took his phone again. He dialed numbers and put his phone to his right ear.

\~o~/

The phone rung in the Little House of Otaru. In a work uniform, a simple black blouse and black pants, Shirose just walked by the ringing phone and blinked when it went on at least three times. Seeing that Kurosawa or neither the girls were around, she smiled with a tired sigh and marched up to the counter. And picked up the phone. "Hello, Little—but not so little, House of Otaru," Shirose approached as delightful as possible.

"This is Akashi Seijuro."

"Hello, sir," she addressed, rearranging the folders on the tables quickly. Just in case he had another request.

"I apologize for the confusion, however one finally decided not to show up," he explained.

Shirose chuckled, "That is fine. We're very flexible." She threw the folders back on the desk, finding no need now.

"Is everything prepared?"

Sounded like he knew something was up. Shirose smirked amusingly, "Ahaha… almost. We'll be done within a few hours. Everything will be neat, clean, the heat will come on regularly, and—"

"Akahime, did you clean those showers yet?!" Kurosawa's voice yelled in the hall.

"Yes, ma'am!" a girl's voice cried helplessly. "Everything is complete, ma'am!" And a loud crashing sound was followed. "Kyyyaaaa!"

Shirose chuckled, "And our food supply is already stocked up. Are you satisfied, sir?"

"You may call me Akashi," he preferred. "Inform Kurosawa that as well."

"Akahime, what was that noise?!" Kurosawa exclaimed, footsteps pounding on the floor.

"My cry of fear, ma'am!" Footsteps ran up the stairs.

The albino girl nodded, "Okay, Akashi." Did the background noises not bother him? That was good. Nothing to be embarrassed about, though she was rather carefree either way. "Oh, just to note, Kurosawa and one man will escort you and your friends at the airport. They'll hold up my sign that says, _Incomplete Rainbow_. You'll know it's them."

"Shirose!" Kurosawa appeared by the doorway on the left, which was the living room. She angrily stared at Shirose, who set the phone on the counter and ran off to the right side of the room with a soft giggle. Sighing heavily, Kurosawa flicked her hair back and walked to the phone to seized it. "Hello, Akashi, right? Sorry about that. I'll be holding up a sign that actually will read _Little House of Otaru_. Are we clear with that?"

"Yes," Akashi said. Kurosawa released a long, deep, audible breath in frustration and almost hung up without a goodbye. "Who was that just now?"

Kurosawa squinted her eyes. She was not certain because he must have heard Akahime's voice too. "If you're asking about who answered the phone first, that was Shirose Shinju," she rubbed her face, trying to suppress a sigh. "Please do not think too much of her. She's still young."

"I understand," Akashi assured. "I shall see you at the airport as scheduled."

"Yes," Kurosawa firmly gave her notice.

"Goodbye."

"Bye," she quickly uttered. Placing the phone back, Kurosawa walked to the right where Shirose escaped. But that girl was nowhere in sight down the hall or up the stairs next to her. There was only one path at the end of the right wall led to the dining room. Kurosawa heard more loud objects dropping from the upper floor and she groaned. "AKAHIME?!"

"Nothing happened, ma'am!"

\~o~/

Akashi stared at his phone and waited. Just a minute after, it rung and he picked it up after five seconds. "Shirose?" he stared outside to the clouds again.

"Hey, hey, are you with anyone right now?" her quiet voice inquired playfully.

_Strange. He did not know this girl or seen her in person. Thus, he would not know what kind of human being she was. Not yet anyway. The least he knew, she planned to call back. He could tell that much. Her voice sounded interestingly enough. Almost as if she looked down on a lot of things, which was why he knew she would attempt to talk to him._

"No one," he replied. "I am alone."

She snickered, "…_Sad_." Akashi narrowed his eyes during the time that she continued, "But I figured. Since I heard nothing besides your voice. You must be lonely, right?"

His eyes kept on gazing over the clouds. They changed shape slowly. "Are you asking for an quarrel?" he demanded calmly.

"I just wanted to talk," she honestly reflected. "Just for a bit… given that your voice was different from what I imagined. But I think I had enough of speaking to you."

"I feel the same." He hung up first and put his phone into his pocket.

_Yes. Akashi felt_ exactly_ the same. Her voice. He desired to talk for a bit because of the silence around him. And he had enough of her. That was all. Nothing personal. Nothing even worth thinking about. He was even certain she had the same thoughts as him._

\~o~/

And the time had come. It was an early Monday at the Sapporo Okadama Airport. Kurosawa was in amidst of the crowd with her arms folded to her chest. Standing beside her was a tall young man, holding up the cardboard sign over his head, which read _Little House of Otaru_ written with a dark blue marker.

The person with that sign was a tall, muscular-looking man with black hair and silver eyes. His hair is kept short, tangled, and spiked toward the back, and a little of his bangs slanted over his right eyebrow. He and Kurosawa were wearing similar black clothing, which was the dress code of their job.

"What if their plane crashed along the way?" the tall man smiled with wonder.

Immediately, Kurosawa slapped his stomach. And he did not budge. "Such ill words," she commented emotionlessly. "Please learn how to keep your mouth shut, Yukiyama."

He smirked without facing her, "I'm just being cautious."

"In what way was that _consider_ as cautious?" she glanced to him with a scowl. Her hair was combed, unlike the time she kept them ruffled, and she looked quite formal and decent.

"Wwwoooo, there they are!" Yukiyama and Kurosawa heard someone said, but they were too busy starting up an argument. That voice just now belonged to Kise, who was ahead of the group, which they all rode on the same plane from Tokyo. And it appeared he and his friends had already retrieved their belongings.

"Pretty lady!" Moriyama was even faster than Kise now. In fact, he ran and almost bumped into people along the way. Just before Moriyama wanted to introduce himself, Yukiyama brought the sign down on Moriyama's head without mercy. The cardboard must have been hard, because Moriyama's head limped upon contact and he even groaned in pain, dropping his bags and rubbing his head.

With a sweat drop, Kurosawa's eyes gazed over the other young people who were heading to where she was. _Eleven of them_, she counted them. _And Shirose mentioned minus one_.

Moriyama sighed when he brought his eyes to meet the eyes of the muscular man. "Why… what…" Moriyama tried to get himself together while his friends were still walking to them. And Kise was already standing by his senpai.

"No attacking in public," Yukiyama smirked. Moriyama opened his mouth to maybe defend himself. But then Yukiyama added, "Just being cautious. Sorry for the rudeness." He held up the sign again with both hands.

"Geez, seriously?" Kise gave the silver-eyed young man an unsure smile.

Kurosawa elbowed Yukiyama's stomach, who was still unfazed by her aggressiveness, and she bowed to the guests. "I apologize for his behavior," she stated, standing back up straight.

"No, it's fine!" Moriyama smiled right away.

Now that the rest of the group was together, Kagami glanced around. "Looks like Akashi, Murasakibara, and Himura aren't here yet," he blinked. Earlier, Momoi had told them about Mayuzumi since they were on the plane together.

Kuroko was still carrying the cage. Tetsuya Two was whimpering and Momoi bent down a bit to touch his nose with her first finger. "There, there," her lips smiled. "We'll let you out as soon as we get to Otaru, kay?" Tetsuya Two panted with bright eyes.

With a few steps forward, Imayoshi confronted Kurosawa, "May if I ask a question?" She just nodded away. "How do we get to Otaru from here?"

Kurosawa easily clarified, "We'll be taking a railroad train to Otaru. It would only be half an hour."

"Oh, good," Aomine heaved a sigh to the ceiling. "Here I was thinking maybe we'll be stuck in something for hours!" The airplane ride was just a drag, but he did get some sleep.

Midorima's still eyes showed some relieve as well. "Kagami _was_ snoring too loud," he uttered.

"Shut up!" Kagami glared to him. Though, it was shameful because Kuroko noted people were staring at his sleeping, opened mouth.

"Um," Sakurai smiled timidly. "I-I wasn't bothered by it at all, Kagami-san."

As random as that was… "I see Murasakibara and Himuro coming this way," Kasamatsu declared, hoping to change the subject.

"Ah!" Momoi moved her body to scan around. And there was Murasakibara and Himuro, waving to them. "Mukkun and Himuro arrived safely!" she cheerfully announced, waving back.

"And there's Akashi-kun," Kuroko smiled, his head over to the opposite direction.

"Oh, I see him," Takao chuckled, closing in to Kuroko's side.

"Aka-chin?"

"Akashicchi!"

Kurosawa placed her hand on her chest, sighing with relief. "Good, everyone's here," she threw her hair back with other hand. Before the others greeted each other, Kurosawa clapped her hands loudly that it echoed. "Alright! Let's get out of this suffocating airport first! Chat later!"

Yukiyama brought the cardboard paper down and smiled, "At last. My arms were about to wear out too."

\~o~/

_Everyone boarded on a blue train with their belongings. Kurosawa had gotten everyone their own first-class private sitting rooms, which a couple were enjoying it without a moment wasted._

_Kurosawa shared a sitting room with Yukiyama, Imayoshi, and Akashi. Kuroko, Aomine, Momoi, and Kagami shared one in the second room. In the next one, there were Sakurai, Kise, Kasamatsu, and Moriyama. The fourth room was where Murasakibara, Himuro, Midorima, and Takao were. All four people in each room. Oh, and Tetsuya Two was spending with Sakurai on the behalf of Kagami freaking out if the dog was in the same room as him._

_The worst that happened before the train though… the rented bus that Yukiyama drove did not work for the entire three hours in the parking lot. It was not pretty and no one would ever want to bring it up. Everything was fine, now that the workers on the train were serving food._

"Can I get a lot of desserts?" Murasakibara looked to the middle-aged female worker. She nodded as she left to close the door to the room.

"It's like we're wealthy!" Takao chuckled, seated by Midorima who sat by the window.

_Across the two were Murasakibara and Himuro, and it was Murasakibara who had the window side. In the center where the table securely stood, there were about six different dishes prepared. They almost shined with the word 'rich' on them._

Himuro blinked as Murasakibara dug in first. "Atsushi, where are your manners?" Himuro faintly smiled.

"Ittadakimasuuuuu," Murasakibara said with his mouth full.

Midorima sighed to him, "Really, Murasakibara…" The purplehead continued eating without them.

_As for the room where Tetsuya Two was in, Sakurai help fed him on his lap. Next to him was Kasamatsu, who was by the window. Sitting across the two were Kise, by the window, and then Moriyama._

"Wah, you're so cute," Sakurai beamed, patting on the dog's head. Tetsuya Two looked up to him with rice on its nose, wagging his tail all at the same time. Sakurai chuckled and helped cleaned the grain of rice off of him.

"Do dogs like eating rice?" Moriyama blinked to him.

Sakurai suddenly panicked, "I—Uh, I don't know!"

Kise laughed lightly, "It's fine. Tetsuya Two looks all right anyway." Kise leaned his chin on the back of his hand and swirled the noodle and pasta together.

"I sure hope so," Kasamatsu flattened his eyes to the blonde. "You better take full responsibility if Kuroko finds out Tetsuya Two gets sick."

"Don't worry, I will take _full_ responsibility!" Kise beamed and Kasamatsu rolled his eyes right after.

_And to the other room, something else was taking place._

"There's not enough for you to eat, stop taking all of them!" Aomine yelled, moving all of the plates away from Kagami's reach. As if that would work.

Kagami frowned, a bit taken back. "I don't see you eating it," he pointed.

"I'm taking my time," Aomine snarled.

Momoi shook her head at them and Kuroko was smiling. "I'm sure we can order more," Momoi said, setting her elbows on the table. "Why don't we just order more?"

"But I don't think it works like that," Kuroko stated, staring blankly at her. They should not impose on Kurosawa either if they were to order more dishes. "And I don't mind if Kagami takes most of it."

Aomine pointed to Momoi as he gave Kagami a serious look. "She still have to eat too," Aomine notified the obvious. "Start acting like a gentleman."

"Oh, looks who's talking," Kagami was now gloomed, talking rather childishly.

_The next and last room was quieter. Akashi and Kurosawa were keeping their thinking process to themselves as Imayoshi and Yukiyama were bonding without them. Imayoshi was next to the window and he sitting by Akashi. The other person by the window was Yukiyama while Kurosawa was next to him._

"So you've worked at the Little House of Otaru for three years?" Imayoshi inquired curiously.

Yukiyama nodded firmly, drinking water in a large cup. "And Kurosawa's been there since she was a kid," he told him, whether she would approve of it or not. She was too quiet anyway. Maybe that would get her talking.

But that did not do the trick as Imayoshi smirked, "And Kurosawa owns it?"

"She's twenty years old now," Yukiyama chuckled, pointing his chopsticks into the air. "Her parents actually owns it, but they 'eloped' at the beginning of the month. So they should be returning a few days after the New Year's."

"And how old are you?"

"Eighteen. What about you?"

"I'm the same."

"Ah, great! Let's be friends!" Yukiyama took out his left hand. Imayoshi took it and they both smiled at each other.

Akashi and Kurosawa still paid not attention. Imayoshi sneered, "We've tried, friend."

Yukiyama smirked, tilting his head to the glasses guy. "Yep, we've tried." And finally, Yukiyama received a smack on the head by Kurosawa's hand. The only reaction they would ever get.

A couple of minutes later, Akashi stopped eating and looked through the window. There were endless snows, just like back in Sapporo. His eyes became still and soon the train seemed to have slowed down.

"Mm?" Kurosawa raised her chin. All of the guys were now silent. "…Are we stopping?"

\~o~/

The sun was already setting in the horizon. Shirose was on the second floor in a room, located on the right corner of the house, which faced to the front yard. Bringing a lit white, large candle, she left the lights of the floor off. She walked to the window in the corner, where a large, L-shape, dark green couch was.

Moving to put her knees on the couch, she slowly put the candle down next to the window. Then she unlocked the window and opened it halfway. The cold wind pleased her skin and she smiled, moving to sit on her ankles. Her arms crossed and she placed her chin on them as she stared outside. _I wonder what's taking them so long_, she gradually closed her eyes.

_The candle remained where it was, still burning strongly and away from her hair as the breeze came by. Out the window, the house was on hill that stood twenty meters from earth. Down the crooked path of snows were streetlights that guided the way in a careful manner down the hill. Down the same road was the small city of Otaru, all filled with streetlights and people heading back home for the day._

"Shirose?"

She pretended not to hear as soon as the footsteps were within the room. It was the voice of Akahime. Knowing her, Shirose was not worried about the window being forced to close. And soon afterward, Akahime's footsteps left the room, whispering concernedly.

\~o~/

"Whew, we're almost there!" Yukiyama was driving with one hand to wave back to the others in the bus. And this bus worked perfectly as Yukiyama drove it in the streets of Otaru. "Welcome to our small harbor city! Otaru!"

Tired for the day, almost everyone barely glimpsed outside. The only thing they could make out was the snow and streetlights. In the other front seat, Kurosawa saw their exhausted face sand had to sigh. "Sorry if the entire day have been waste," she felt the need to express, looking forward to the road ahead.

_The reason why they were so late was because of the train driver unexpectedly had a heart attack. The whole story was not issued, so no one had a clue why it had to occur of all times. They all really just want to sleep now. Even Takao was up for that and Tetsuya Two was sleeping on Kuroko's lap. This was good though. Akashi did not have to hear them talk all at the same time._

Some minutes passed. Akashi was sitting close to the front and the bus drove around a house on a hill. His head stayed on the right, where the house stood. There were still a few ways, which might take a few more minutes. The house's lights were on the first floor, however on the second floor, there were no lights.

Faintly, Akashi saw a fatal temptation flickering in the distance. A candle? The dim light revealed white hair swaying in the wind. The darkness covered mostly everything, but he stared curiously. Not the hair, but the candle's light that accompanied it. It was such an impenetrable sensation. He was not confident how to feel toward it.

A snowflake fell into his sight out the bus window, disturbing the image of the candlelight that nearly lit something in his mind.

_Despite the fact, there was one thing that was clear to him. That same temptation seemed to be testing him. And he disliked being tested by such a thing. It was not worth being pulled into its arrogance._

* * *

Author's note: You are free to point out my flaws. It will help me improve. And thanks for reading and leaving a review! I worked my ass off for updating as fast as possible because of the reviews! Thank you for making me happy and making me feel good about this fanfic. I shall continue writing!

And as before, a review would be nice! Hopefully I can work hard and update the next chapter when I feel it is ready to be seen.


	3. Year 1 - Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I am still struggling to make sure I update weekly. At the very least, I did that twice last week. So, thank you very much for the support to all reviews, favs, and follows!

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 3**

* * *

_She remembered the voice that was possessed by Akashi. The sound of it conveyed a mysterious power to attract other as well as breaking them into pieces. But there was something about it she was not precisely fond of either. At some point of his life, he had denied losers. If she voiced herself indirectly, a war might break out. That would be an interesting sight, would it not?_

_However, it was worthless now. Akashi already broke once. And she missed the chance to see it happen in front of her. She wanted to see the word 'loser' written on his face. She was unable to picture a single thing about his features and she could not imagine his 'broken' face._

_But she would see him soon enough._

"Shirose!" Kurosawa angrily shouted to the window on the second floor in the left corner of her view. The black haired young woman just walked up to the Little House of Otaru and her head lifted up to where the candle was.

To all of the guests, they were staring forward to the 'little' dark red house, which was a bigger than they had previously envisioned. It was a two-story house and there were thirteen count of windows on the front of both floors. The lights on the second floor were still off. And the front door just opened, which interrupted their train of thoughts.

Pushing the door further and widely from the inside, a girl with red hair greeted with a big smile, "Welcome!" The style of her hair was high pigtails and the length of it touched her shoulders, curling and tangling. Her bangs were in a mess itself, covering her forehead and reached over her eyebrows. Whilst Kurosawa was still glaring up to Shirose, the red haired girl jumped from the door, down the short flight of stairs of the porch. Landing on her knees to the snow, she bowed her forehead right into the snow. "I will be assisting in all duties! Please do not hesitate to call me Akahime!"

Kagami was the only one who flinched at her jumping-bowing action. She was wearing black leggings and a brown shorts. Her U-neck long sleeves were the only clothing she wore in the cold. "Uhhhh," Kagami found no words to even convey. _…Eh? Did she say Bakahime or Akahime?_ Kagami questioned that to himself. He even wondered if he was the _normal_ one in the group to think what this red-hair girl just did was very unusual.

Yukiyama snickered in the background. He was amused no one reacted much to Akahime as he had hoped.

"Shirose!" Kurosawa yelled one more time, and more loudly.

Some of the guys directed their eyes upward, wondering if the people here would even provide good services. A head of white hair on the second floor moved up lazily. The candlelight revealed a girl with tired red eyes and she blew out the candle right away as soon as she saw Kurosawa's angry face. Afterwards, she closed the window on them.

"God, how _long_ did she sleep like that?" Kurosawa mumbled to herself. Her feet shifted back so she could face the others. "Alright, go on in," she gave them the go. While Akahime got up to rush into the house, Akashi stepped forward first and the others followed. Once they entered, Kurosawa came in and closed the door shut to keep the cold air from coming in.

_Inside, all of the dark yellow walls were imprinted with black, ashy ink. The drawings on the walls were snowy tress, cliffs, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, and the earthy ground. Beneath their feet was golden-brown wood. As for the ceiling, it consisted of clouds with the same black ink, along with the dark yellow background just like the walls. In addition, there was a white chandelier that held up many white candles in the center of the lobby. They were all lit up, making the lobby glow like a low-powered lighting room. The chandeliers also had diamond beads hanging down and glittering with the candlelight._

In the background, Kuroko released Tetsuya Two from his arms and the dog stretched. All of the guys were admiring the whole lobby after taking off their shoes. Over at the front counter, Akahime stood behind it and held a white clipboard against her chest. She waited as the guys hung up their coats on the four coat stands. "Please check in over here," she waved to the first one who walked up, which was Akashi.

Suddenly, Tetsuya Two barked and Kagami shouted angrily in surprised. "Kuroko, when did you—?!"

The redhead was carrying a single large, red barrel-shaped handbag in his left hand. Setting his bag down, Akahime set the clipboard on the table to face it to him. There was a black mug filled with black and blue pens. The designs on them had snowflakes. Akashi elegantly took one without looking to which one he would use and wrote down his name.

"This is for security issues," Akahime explained, blinking to him almost shyly. "The owners of this place had a murder case that happened in the house before because we did not have a sign in sheet and all. They went through a lot of hardships."

Akashi set the pen down and strolled away as Takao was up next. "Don't mind him," Takao grinned to her. She just nodded and he wrote down his name with the line of people forming behind him.

"What kind of murder case?" Kise raised the question curiously and innocently. He was the fourth person in line.

Her smile turned upside down. "I wasn't told," she bowed forward. Takao had just finished writing his name and quickly moved his head away when she almost head-butt him. "I'm sorry for not knowing! Please refrain from asking any further information I do not own!"

"Kise!" Aomine disapprovingly shouted. He was the last in line. "A murder case only involves killing. What would you want the details for, eh?"

The blonde snapped his head back. "I was just curious!" Kise pouted while defending himself. It was not like he had a sick mind or anything.

Smiling awkwardly, Akahime looked to the next person in line. He wrote his name as Himuro Tatsuya and she blushed the moment he sauntered away with a smile on his face. A kind smile that was directed to her. _Oh my god, I want to serve him as soon as possible!_ She beamed excitingly.

Next one up was Imayoshi. Toward the end of writing his last name, he inquired, "The painting on the walls look great. Do you know who did it?"

"That information, I do not possess either," she shook head. Bowing her head a bit, she requested, "Forgive me, sir."

Imayoshi smiled down to the paper. "Nah, it's fine," he finished writing and took his baggages. "I was just curious if it was handmade or not."

Kise went up next and offered a smile first. She smiled back, but at the back of her mind, she thought, _Sorry, but Himuro Tatsuya just stole my heart! I can't be with you!_ However, Kise almost looked familiar. Where had she seen him before?

Next to the living room, Yukiyama had stood and leaned against the doorway, watching Kise finishing up writing his name as Kasamatsu was next.

As for Akashi, who stood with the others who had already signed their names, he was staring at the paintings on the wall carefully. It intrigued him very much. A shame the artist was unknown. Kurosawa had magically disappeared too, but Akashi already knew she would be back to guide them soon enough.

"I feel like we're going to share rooms," Kasamatsu let out a soft sigh, going to Kise's side.

"Judging from the size of the house, I think so," Kise blinked to him.

Midorima just completed the task of signing his name and walked away from the counter. Akahime tilted her head to see the stuffed snowman in his left hand. It was pretty cute. She wondered if he loved those kinds of things.

"Shin-chan, you should really stop carrying that around," Takao snickered when he caught sight of Akahime staring at it.

"Be quiet," Midorima stared coldly at him.

Now it was Kagami's turn to inscribe his name. He recalled to what Kasamatsu asked about sharing the rooms. _Akashi didn't mention any of that_, Kagami squinted his eyes tiredly. He better not room with anyone as annoying as Kise then. He would prefer to have Moriyama as his roommate over that blonde any day. _Wait, scratch that. I would pick Kise over the dog any day!_ Sweats formed on his face and the pen fell out of his shaking hand. He just finished anyway, so he moved on off to the side.

Abruptly, Moriyama reached his hand out to Akahime with spark of interest. "I am Moriyama Yoshitaka," he quickly introduced himself. Akahime dared not to take it and almost seemed frightened. Moriyama realized she was looking over his head and he gazed over his shoulder and saw Murasakibara frowning.

"Hurry up," Murasakibara's eyes were fixedly on him.

"Just a moment," Moriyama pouted his lips in respond.

Akahime blinked, staring into space. Moriyama signed his name and took off in the direction of the others who were not in line. Murasakibara was up and bent more than the others to reach down to the pen and paper. "Um, you can always pick the clipboard up…" she slowly pointed out nervously.

"I'm already done," he turned around at a slow pace. He dragged his bags and still looked upset about something. …_I need sweets_, he mentally said to himself, greatly craving for them.

The only girl of the group of friends, Momoi, stepped up with an optimistic smile on her face. "Hello there," the pink haired girl wanted to greet first.

Behind the counter, the corners of the redhead's mouth curved up with her front teeth exposed. "Hello," Akahime politely addressed back.

Meanwhile, Kuroko, who was the second last person in line, captured a sight of a young girl in the living room on his right. She did not stay long and already moved before he saw her face. But he did note the black eye patch of her right eye. Her hair was blue too, which was possibly at her waist length.

Momoi carried her stuff and left the front counter to join a short conversation Kise was starting with Kasamatsu. Sakurai was now the next person to mark his name. He was as timid as always and rushed off without a single word when he was done. Akahime did not notice Kuroko signing his name at all and then finally the last person, Aomine, grabbed the pen and took his time to write down his own name.

And with that done with… "Thank you everyone!" Akahime nodded to them and took the clipboard. _Whew, so far, I'm doing well_, she smiled to herself.

Kurosawa came back with a little notepad in hand. She flipped through them, standing by the doorway on the right where the stairs was. Akashi walked up to her and her eyes met his quiet gaze. "Alright, listen up, everybody," she waved the notepad, ambling around Akashi. "We have five rooms in total upstairs. Since there are about fifteen of you, including the dog, there'll be three of you per room. So pick your roomies and head upstairs. My friend will assist you from there."

"Tetsu-kun!"

"Kurokocchi!"

Kuroko eyes became flattened as the Momoi and Kise ran directly to him like puppies. All the while Kise and Momoi almost appeared to want to hug him.

Akahime was utterly shocked when she did not recognize Kuroko's face from all of the people who wrote down their names. Then she stared into the paper on the clipboard and saw his name between Sakurai and Aomine's names. _Creepy!_ She shivered.

"Hey!" Kagami exclaimed, looking over to the threesome: Kuroko, Momoi, and Kise. There was a vein on Kagami's head when they turned their heads to him. "If you two are going to join Kuroko, then what about the damn dog?!"

Sakurai smiled, "I'll take care of him?"

"Good, keep your word!" Kagami said, forcing it upon Sakurai.

"Y-Yes," Sakurai bowed three times.

Takao raised his hand, "I'll take care of him this time, Sakurai. Just leave it to me!"

"Uh…" Sakurai scratched his cheeks with a glimpse to him. It would not matter either way.

Over to the front counter, Kurosawa wandered over to Akahime and Akashi headed up the stairs first. Midorima and Imayoshi trailed after him while the others were still discussing their roomies. Tetsuya Two went off by himself without notice and then dashed up the stairs as fast as possible.

"Whoa there," Imayoshi smirked as Tetsuya Two passed him.

Midorima kept going up the stairs in spite of the fact that the fur of the dog touched his right ankle. _Did they really have to bring that thing with us? _Midorima sighed. He wished Tetsuya Two did not come. For one, Kagami was loud. Second, Tetsuya Two would urinate everywhere. Not exactly true, but it was possible.

Turning halfway on the stairs, the air felt colder. Akashi's eyes watched Tetsuya Two who ran by and got to the second floor first while disappearing from sight. Although he happily barked, someone's footsteps begun running around and Tetsuya Two barked again. "Kurosawa!" a girl shouted in fright.

The moment Akashi reached to the top of the stairs, a white haired girl ran from the right as the left had a wall. She ran into Akashi's chest without looking and her body was shaking. His emotionless eyes stared down at her in that single second.

_He recognized her voice, even if the tone of it was filled with terror. Was this little girl Shirose? Even if she was looking down, he confirmed it when he saw she wore pearl earrings. Her first name, Shinju, meant pearl. It was not a coincidence. He knew for certain._

Following that instant, she pushed him out of the way and almost slipped down the stairs on her white socks. Midorima blinked during which Shirose slammed her shoulder against his arm and Imayoshi quickly moved out of the way as she continued to run. "Kurosawa!" Shirose stumbled down the stairs

Akashi stared to Tetsuya Two, who looked up at him innocently and merely wagged his tail. "…Good job," Akashi walked around the dog casually. Seeing Shirose in such a state pleased him.

_Wait. Was he holding a grudge against her? How meaningless. Akashi rid of himself of that thinking._

And down on the first floor, Shirose ran toward the front counter. All of the guests gaped over to the girls. "Why did you allow a dog into _our_ house?!" Shirose yelled, the tone of her voice obviously scared to death.

"You don't like dogs?" Kuroko inquired, appearing to feel guilty. Shiorse jumped in their spot whilst she followed whose voice it belonged to.

Kurosawa ignored the little tears in Shirose's eyes and fixed her gazed to Kuroko. "Shirose's afraid of dogs," Kurosawa nodded once.

Kuroko blinked ruefully, "You should have told us."

"Ha?" Kagami glared to him. "What about me then?!"

"We're supposed to be flexible," Kurosawa reminded. She took the clipboard from the counter and softly hit on Shirose's head to make her snap out of it. "Shirose, go accompany them to their rooms and do your job."

"Mmmm, Kurosawa's mean," Shirose expected, pouting as she faced away.

With no hesitation, Akahime raised her hand voluntary, "I'll do it, ma'am."

At the same time as Kasamatsu and Moriyama heading off up the stairs, Kurosawa did not object to Akahime's offer. "Then go," Kurosawa considered seriously. The redhead girl nodded positively and hurried off to guide everyone else to the second floor. "Yukiyama, you and Shirose serve dinner."

"Alright," Yukiyama smirked, moving his feet to follow the others in the direction of the stairs. Shirose chuckled, lucky to avoid that dog and rushed off after Yukiyama. Subsequently, all of the guests went up the stairs, Yukiyama and Shirose held each other's hand softly and walked pass the stairway and down the hall. The doorway at the end, to the right, was the location of the dining room.

On the second floor, Murasakibara was the last to stomped up the stairs because he took his _sweet_ time. And the first thing he noticed… "Why is it so cold up here?" he uttered before shivering. The purplehead made his way to the right, viewing the large, L-shape, dark green couch in the corner on his left side. There was a small coffee table there as well. His feet pressed on and just ahead of him was Room One, which was labeled above the opened door.

"Kasamatsu, you sure you want to room with us?" Imayoshi's voice came from Room One.

Pacing, Murasakibara stopped at the door and observed for a second. There was Akashi, Imayoshi, and Kasamatsu rolling out futons on the floor. But it seemed Akashi was already done and he was looking out the window.

"Why, you don't want me here?" Kasamatsu frowned.

"That's not it," Imayoshi chuckled, glancing back.

Murasakibara then moved on to the right. Down the hall, there were three doors on each side of the walls. If Kurosawa stated there were five bedrooms, the last two doors at the end of the hall must be something else. Lucky he actually recalled it. Though, not thinking too much of it now, he stayed on the left wall and checked the Room Two. There was Aomine, Moriyama, and Midorima.

"Wow, she's pretty," Moriyama blinked. He was lying on his stomach beside Aomine, who was in the same position. The two of them were staring at a magazine together.

Midorima was the only one who laid out his futon and let out a tiresome sigh to the two of them in the middle of the room. "Why don't you two hurry up and take the futons out," Midorima suggested, coldly looking to the two men.

"Uh… later," Aomine's eyes glued to the magazine.

Blinking once, Murasakibara checked Room Five across Room Two. There he saw Kagami, Sakurai, and Himuro. "Oh, Muro-chin didn't wait for me?" Murasakibara mumbled, sagging his head.

Himuro was placing the futon on the floor and heard the tall guy. With a smile, Himuro remarked, "Sorry, Atsushi. I didn't think you wanted to be in the same room as me."

"What are you, his mother, Himuro?" Kagami sneered.

Sakurai was sitting on his ankles, smiling nervously when Murasakibara was giving Kagami and long, annoyed expression. A moment later, Murasakibara continued down the hall. _Whew!_ Sakurai sighed in relief. Visualizing these men starting a war every day was scary.

Staying next to the right wall, Murasakibara peeked into Room Four. _Um?_ He blinked to the scene that was happening.

"Tetsu-kun, you can sleep here!" Momoi was dragging Kuroko's futon around.

Kise pouted, "Geez, Momoicchi. Why does he have to be so far away from me?"

Over by the window, Kuroko was staring blankly at the two without a comment. Murasakibara instantly turned away to the last room across Room Four, which was Room Three. He walked in and saw Takao holding and playing with Tetsuya Two's paws. As for the futons, none were laid out yet.

"Hey," Takao smirked to the purplehead. Picking up the dog to face Murasakibara, Takao declared, "We're happy to be roomies with you for the rest of the week."

With nothing to say, Murasakibara childishly threw his bags in front of him. Which caused Akahime to pop out of nowhere and she chose to carry them further into the room. While she was putting them to the side, Murasakibara entered the room and looked around lazily. The room was emptied, aside two drawers that were on each of the doorway.

"Oh," Akahime beamed, walking up to the tall man. Though she kept her distance since he was too tall to make eye contact, not that he was even looking back to her. "Did you just get here? I shall give you information then!"

Murasakibara glanced to her for a second and sighed with boredom the other way.

"There are two bathrooms down the end of this hallway," she gestured with her hand. "Both have showers. And if both bathrooms are occupied, there are three more bathrooms on the first floor, with showers as well."

"Uh… okay," Murasakibara slowly nodded, stepping away from her.

The redhead saluted, "Now, I shall go and get to my other duty! Don't hesitate to ask any questions later!"

"Got it," Takao smiled, using the paw of Tetsuya Two to wave.

She giggled and ran out the room right away and into the hall, leaving them all in peace. Just when she made a left turn to where the L-shape couch was, Akashi had exited his room and gazed to her. Akahime stopped in her tracks and hopped a bit to face him, which they were standing about a couple of yards away from each other. "Is there something you need, sir?" she queried.

They had a second of staring at each other and she tilted her head in confusion. "Nothing," he replied.

"Oh, Akahime-san!" She shifted her upper body to see who was calling. It was Kise. "Can you come here for a sec?"

With a bright smile, she ran off toward him, "Yes! How can I help you?"

Akashi watched her back as she went all the way to Room Four. Just a little, her nature irritated him. Later with her disappearing into the room, hearing Momoi complaining about something, Akashi aimed for the stairs. As he strolled down to the first floor and took a glimpse to the front counter. There was no one there. Making a right turn, he headed through the hall. Immediately pausing at the doorway of entrance of the dinning room, the eyes of Akashi caught a scene he probably should not have tried to even stare at.

Across the room was a door to a kitchen. There was another door to the dining room on the right side of the wall by that kitchen door, which Akashi ignored. Over in the kitchen, Yukiyama had just planted a kiss on Shirose's lips. She carried some plates with both hands, tiptoeing with her chin up and eyes closed. When Yukiyama pulled back, he was smirking and patted her on head as her eyes slowly opened with her heels returning to the floor. She returned a genuine smile and Yukiyama walked out of sight of the kitchen doorway, moving things in the background.

As Shirose left the kitchen, her eyes blinked when Akashi was standing still over at the other side of the room. A small grin was on her face and she placed the plants on the large, rectangular table that filled with all kinds of dishes for dinner. Her eyes met Akashi's gaze. He wore no emotion and her eyes was nothing but tempting to hear his thoughts out loud.

Their silence was broken as soon as Yukiyama came in with a tray of silver utensils. "Oh, Akashi," Yukiyama naturally paced to the table. "We're almost ready. You hungry already?"

The redhead did not respond, merely studying Shirose's grin that was still on her face.

"Yukiyama!" Kurosawa's voice called from other door to Akashi's right.

He turned and walked to the door where her voice came from. "Yeah?" he disappeared into the hallway.

Breaking from Akashi's eyes, Shirose had begun placing the plates on one side of the table that needed plates in front of the each chair. She then took the tray of the utensils, holding it under her left arm and to her hip, rearranging them by all of the plates. Going around the table, her back eventually faced Akashi.

"He is not the wisest choice," Akashi judged.

She responded straightforwardly, "So? A loser's simple mistake won't end that bad."

Akashi narrowed his eyes as she kept on working her way at the table.

_So… was that it? Was this the feeling Akashi had felt before meeting her face to face? Was this between a winner and a loser?_

_Shirose Shinju, a girl who possibly looked down on winners. And Akashi Seijuro, who still believed losers were denied of everything. She had a body that prevented her from doing what others could accomplish, which clearly labeled her as a failure and incomplete. Yet, something else about her weakness stated otherwise._

_…The vulnerability could become threatening._

* * *

Author's note: Reviews would be encouraging, but if you have nothing to say, well… at least tell me what you thought was interesting or what was bothering you. However, if you are still waiting before judging my work, then I shall wait with patience. Thanks for reading!


	4. Year 1 - Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: Whoa, I realized I updated chapter 3 on Akashi's birthday. I completely forgot about it. And I'm glad I did that. It's like… FATE! XD

I gained a follower along the way, so I will say this over again. Oh wait… was it a story fav? …Maybe it was both. Uh, anyway! Thank you everyone for leaving reviews, follows, and favs! Much appreciated! :3

And Merry Christmas Eve! (It's pass midnight for me already, so I want to say that.) I hope every one of you are staying warm. Unless you live on the other side of the world or something... stay cozy anyway. X3

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
****Chapter 4**

* * *

There was loud chatter coming from the dining room. Even the bark of the dog was heard. Kurosawa paid no attention to the commotion and she slowly headed up the stairs during the moment she was scribbling down notes on a piece of paper attached to a black clipboard. Hearing another footsteps midway, her eyes lifted up and met Kuroko's gaze. He had just taken his first steps on the stairs from the second floor.

"You should hurry before every one of them eat everything," Kurosawa said in a calm voice, although, she envisioned the whole group eating without him.

"Yes," he smiled softly to her. They walked passed each other and they never looked back. When Kuroko got on the first floor, he made his way to the dining room on his right down the hall. The first voice he picked up belonged to Midorima.

And he sounded almost desperate. "There's no Wi-Fi?" Midorima inquired.

Kuroko arrived to the dining room and saw two emptied seats that were opened for him. The rectangular table included five chairs on both left and right side in Kuroko's view. And there were three chairs in front of him and three more on the other side of the table across the room. Kuroko did not take note where everyone was sitting at and simply headed for the closest vacant chair, which was beside Akashi's left on the left side of the room.

The second Kuroko seated in that very corner by Akashi's side, Tetsuya Two was in the other chair at the corner of the table and Momoi greeted Kuroko with a smile at the same time as she was feeding the dog with a chicken drumstick.

The eyes of Midorima instantly snapped over to where Shirose was. The white-hair girl just exited the kitchen and carried a brown, plastic tray of flavored drinks in tall, clear cups. Her left palm balanced the tray whilst her right hand was free. "Is there _any_ Wi-Fi here?" he queried again, raising his voice over the others who been talking among themselves.

Midorima was sitting in the other corner of the table; closest to the door Kuroko came from, and pretty much he was across from the seat where Tetsuya Two was. Without blinking, Shirose approached to the other emptied seat, which was on Momoi's left. "I'm sorry, did _Akashi_ not give you that detail?" she smirked, her right hand reaching for a cup on the tray she held up.

Everyone seemed to have quieted down at the tone of her voice. The way she said Akashi's name was as if she asked for trouble by getting the redhead's attention. But Akashi was still eating and did not lift up his head.

Just then, Shirose forgot about the dog by Momoi. She carefully _and_ instantly backed away five steps, putting on a poker face as much as she could. If the entire cups of drinks she held fell over now, Kurosawa would really use force and hit her on the head. Which was why Shirose remained composed.

In that same corner of the table where Midorima was, Kagami was on glasses guy's left. "Why do you need Wi-Fi for?" Kagami stuffed his mouth with rice afterwards.

Takao snickered, waving his hand to Kagami, "Shin-chan needs to be able to read his horoscope tomorrow morning." Takao was next to Midorima's right side.

Now Midorima had his phone in his hand after taking it out. "And we're in Otaru…" he mumbled. "I won't be able to hear that radio station either…"

With Takao laughing lightly, Shirose took the tall cup of pink liquid next to Momoi's right. "Thank you," Momoi smiled up to her. "But really, next time I'll help out as well."

Aomine scoffed and Shirose held back a chuckle. "You better not ask for Satsuki's help at all," Aomine warned, barely even paying attention to the girls after.

"Don't say that!" Momoi pouted across the table to him. Aomine was just on Takao's right. Momoi ignored him now as Tetsuya Two barked softly to get her attention.

Going along the left side, Shirose gave the next cup to Moriyama. He wanted water, so she that was what she got for him. He smiled with a nod, slightly attracted to her red eyes. Shirose then gave Kise his yellow drink and he offered his thanks. During that time, she encountered with Kasamatsu, Sakurai, and then Imayoshi when she handed out their drinks. Continuing her way, she gave Aomine his blue drink, next came Takao and Midorima, who both wanted the same kind of drink, which was green. Shirose moved to Kagami, giving him three cups as he wanted. Onwards, it was Himuro and Murasakibara. She placed their drinks next to each other because of Kagami's emptied plates that took up the room on the table.

And then her hand placed the red drink by Akashi and she barely touched him, or any of the guys, while doing so. The two of them said nothing as she gave Kuroko a strange look. "Oh, were you always there?" Shirose paced around him to see his face clearly.

Indifferently, Kuroko blinked, "Actually, I just got here."

She smiled uneasily and nodded. "Oh, I see," she slightly bowed in a polite manner. "Here I thought I missed you by accident." She was relieved not to mess up. Setting the tray on her lips, she requested, "What kind of drink do you want, sir?"

He returned a small smile. "You can just call me Kuroko," he noted. They must be at the same age. It made no sense to be called 'sir' by her. "And, um… water is just fine."

Nodding, she winked, "Right away, Kuroko."

"You can call me Moriyama too!" the pitiful, handsome man raised his hand across from Kuroko.

"Moriyama," she regarded with a glance.

As she took off to the kitchen on her left, Murasakibara called, "And more desserts later!"

"This is great," Moriyama smiled to himself, his eyes shining to Kise.

The blond noticed his stare and returned an odd look with an eyebrow raised. "What's great, senpai?" Kise inquired.

With a finger was pointed to Kise's nose, Moriyama sincerely declared, "It seems none of the girls here know your identity. That would mean I have a higher chance to get a girlfriend."

A sigh from Kasamatsu was heard on Kise's left. "Yep, that's the only thing you would worry about, Moriyama," Kasamatsu weary commented, taking his drink to take a sip with his left hand. Within that particular point, Sakurai's elbow suddenly struck into Kasamatsu's arm, who choked upon drinking and the cold liquid spilled on his right thigh.

"Whoa!" Kise moved his legs to avoid getting his pants stain when a few drops flew to him. Kise peeked at Kasamatsu's frozen, and almost upset, expression.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, Kasamatsu-san!" Sakurai yelled at the same time as he rushed to get up. His face was so pale; one would think he encountered a ghost.

In the seat on Sakurai's right, Imayoshi was calmly gazing to them. Sakurai had snatched a napkin under a half-eaten plate, however, he was not careful enough and the plate flipped over. Tetsuya Two barked and everybody begun to look over to the ruckus.

"Wah, sorry!" Sakurai shouted, his nerves jumping off the chart.

Kasamatsu set his cup down whilst Sakurai was wiping his mouth with the napkin. "Okay, _relax_, I can do it myself," Kasamatsu annoyingly tried to take the napkin from Sakurai.

Sakurai gave him the napkin with shaking hands. "I'm so sorry!" he shut his eyes to say it out loud.

Kagami was staring at the plate that flipped over. It was a dish of fried fishes. _What a waste…_ he focused blankly.

"Sit, Sakurai," Imayoshi let a smile spread on his face. Nonetheless, Sakurai was shaken up and slowly went back to sit. Imayoshi patted on Sakurai's shoulders twice. "There, there."

Himuro noted Shirose walking into the room in his view. _Sakurai is going to apologize all over again_, Himuro guessed with a smile to the side.

"Oh no," Shirose pretended to sound sad. She held the tray with a single cup of water.

On the verge of tears, Sakurai stood away from the chair and bowed directly to her. "I'm so sorry! It was me!" he confessed. She gone over to Kuroko to give his drink and Kuroko nodded in thanks. Sakurai stood up straight and offered, "Please allow me to clean it!"

Entertainingly, Shirose smirked and had a short laugh. "Aw, aren't you cute?" she teased, making her way toward him. Sakurai's face was blank and he could not say a single word. Walking up to him, she reached to give him a pat on the head. "Don't worry about it," she assured with a nod. "I'll take care of it. It's my job."

Even so, he could not have that. "But—"

Now she gave him a serious expression. "Do you want Kurosawa-sama to scold me?" Shirose furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, I—"

"Then enough," she giggled, slapping his right arm softly. Sakurai fell silent and she nudged him to sit back down, which he did. Shirose smiled to the others and hoped, "Enjoy your dinner, everyone! Aohana did most of the cooking."

"Who?" Kagami raised the question.

Shirose smiled wider, "A-o-ha-na. She lives and works here too. You'll see her throughout the week eventually."

"Ah… okay," Kagami looked down to his food. He was eating pasta indulged in tomato sauce. It tasted quite good. _So, they actually home make our meals?_ Kagami widened his eyes. How _rich_ was Akashi? Because the redhead could not have paid for the food for the entire week, did he?

Leaving the dinner room for a rest, and ignoring the mess on the table, Shirose took the exit close to the kitchen doorway. In the hall she was in, three doors stood on her left. They were the bathrooms. On the left side of the way, there was a doorway that led to the lobby where the front counter was. And just ahead of her was a closed door, which was a bedroom where Shirose shared with Kurosawa, Akahime, and Aohana.

And that bedroom door opened. The black eye patched girl walked out and her eyes glared to Shirose, who was smiling playfully. "…You're not in your usual fit, are you, Shirose?" the girl inquired. Her blue hair was tied in a low ponytail and the ends of her hair touched her lower back. She wore the same type of work clothes as the white haired girl.

"Hmmm," Shirose decided not to answer and turned around sharply. Her eyes gazed through the doorway she had strolled from and she could only spot Momoi in the dining room. "Oh, Aohana, one of the guys eats like no tomorrow," the albino girl remarked. "I think he likes your food."

A sigh wandered closer and then Aohana stood by her side. "You and Akahime helped me cook too," she reminded, raising a hand. A second later, she whacked behind the white haired girl's head with her left hand. Shirose held back a cry and pouted to her friend like an innocent victim. "Now, answer my first question," Aohana demanded without a single pity of look.

_In some aspects, Aohana was almost the split image of Kurosawa in personality. On the other hand, Aohana preferred to be alone a lot more, she was quieter among strangers, and she was more aggressive. She does not hold back either when it comes to hitting a weak, little girl like Shirose. And commented by Yukiyama before, Aohana was thought to be the prettier one._

Shirose whimpered for a moment and Aohana still did not look apologetic for hitting her. Averting her eyes back to the kitchen, Shirose put her arms behind her and held her own hands gently. "It's not a fit," Shirose defended her pride. "But… it's just so lovely."

"What is?" Aohana glimpsed at the corner of her eyes.

"All of those guys… it seems like they all broke once before," Shirose sneered as her eyelids closed halfway. "And I love _it_."

Aohana's finger touched Shirose's cheek and she poked it gently. "You weirdo," Aohana stared emotionlessly. Yet, she disapproved the way Shirose viewed on life.

There were familiar voices behind them and Shirose rushed to the doorway to the lobby whereas Aohana turned to the bathrooms. Shirose entered into the lobby, hurrying pass the front counter as she saw Akahime putting on Yukiyama's coat through his arms. "Yuki, leaving already?" Shirose grabbed for his arm.

Akahime stepped back and Yukiyama zipped up his black coat. "Yeah," he smiled, patting on the white-hair girl's head. He snickered and nudged to Akahime's arm. "And Akahime is still the same. Always insisting on putting on my coat for me. Silly, right?"

Her arm locked around his. "_Very_ silly, as always," Shirose smirked to Akahime.

The redhead girl blinked and scratched her cheek. "Um…" she was not sure what to say. Sometimes, Shirose was scary. Akahime never really understand her either.

_Akahime, the most naïve girl of the bunch. She treated herself like a slave and she listened to others without a fight. She found satisfaction in serving others wholeheartedly. Due to that, no one cared to listen to what she had to say. Never. Not that she dared to state her own opinions though. There must be something wrong in her head for thinking that way._

"Thank you for taking care of him," Shirose nodded to Akahime with a chuckle. "But really, Akahime, stop treating Yuki like he's a _special_ guest. He's a friend."

"Y-Yes," Akahime timidly nodded right back. _But I can't help it_. Akahime lowered her eyes. _He… was my first crush_.

_Being the only 'cautious' guy who personally knew all of the girls living in the house, Yukiyama considered the four of them as his harem back in the past. He even enjoyed pretending to flirt with them before he started to date Shirose in the beginning of the month. Surprisingly, the relationship between him and Shirose seemed stabilize._

"Shiro, I'll be here early tomorrow with the new temporally workers," Yukiyama notified, his silver eyes meeting her gorgeous red eyes. "Kurosawa instructed you to wake up early and assign them their to their jobs."

She nodded, "I know. She reminded me two times already. I don't need you to remind me either."

_Kurosawa, the only daughter of the actual owners of Little House of Otaru, yet her parents lived elsewhere. That meant the Little House of Otaru was Kurosawa's home and she got the say in everything that happens, whether her own mother and father cared or not. A rebellious young woman to her parents, she was somewhat grateful to them too._

Yukiyama smirked a little and Akahime rushed out of the lobby to the living room quietly. Afterwards, he leaned in and kissed Shirose's forehead. "I'll see you in the morning," he whispered.

"Okay," she nodded, her arm returning to her side. "We won't really see each other long though. I have to volunteer tomorrow."

He grinned as his feet moved to get into his shoes. "I know," he remembered. "Alright, good night."

Shirose nodded and he went to open the door. "Nighty night, Yuki." His eyes remained on her until he headed out and slowly closed the door. She smiled and touched her lips. "I should have kissed him instead," she murmured with a small smirk.

"_He is not the wisest choice."_

She lost her smile and felt almost offended. _What do you know, Akashi?_ She thought to herself, thinking deeply. _I seriously hate people like you._

_Unquestionably, what he said had been bothering her. It was as if his eyes were staring behind her, moderating her actions. It made her feelings for Yukiyama waver. But this was her choice. Life was unpredictable. She did not had to repeat herself of his absolute words._

Life _was unpredictable._

\~o~/

The sun was now rising up. And the very first voice was Takao's.

"Wake up, Murasakibara!" Takao grabbed for the tall guy's blanket and tossed to the side. While Murasakibara grumbled to laid on his right side, rolling away from Takao's loud voice, Tetsuya Two barely opened his eyes to observe what was happening. "It's time to wash up and play snowball fight!"

"I don't wanna…" Murasakibara grumbled. He was getting annoyed very quickly. "And give me back my blankie." The room felt chilly and no heat was coming on yet. Maybe he should have asked for the heat to blast up.

Takao put his hands on his hips and grinned. "Tetsuya Two!" he called without looking back. The dog got up on his feet and yawned. He blinked as Takao opened the bedroom door. "Go and terrorize Kagami and everyone else!" As if Tetsuya Two was spell bounded by the name 'Kagami,' the dog ran out of the room in no time. Takao covered his mouth and snickered. "Aw, man, this is going to be great…!"

Tetsuya Two dashed to the center of the hallway and now stood between Rooms Two and Five. He breathed with his head lifted up. And then he howled. And howled again until…

The bedroom door of Room One opened from the inside and Akashi stepped out with a cold expression on his face. His eyes gazed at Tetsuya Two, who immediately stopped making noises and sat on the floor silently and obediently. "…Come here," Akashi commanded without any gestures.

The dog whimpered and did as he was told. Walking to the redhead, who bent down with his right knee on the ground, Tetsuya Two stopped and looked up to him curiously.

From Room Three, Takao peeked out to perceive what was wrong. He could see Akashi's mouth moving to say something to Tetsuya Two while patting on the dog's head. …_I wonder what's up_. Takao grinned. Luckily, Akashi did not snap for having his morning ruined by the dog. Maybe nothing would happen.

_Maybe_.

\~o~/

A fist slammed against the counter. "What?!" Kurosawa angrily exclaimed. She was at the front counter, talking on the phone. "How in the world did your freaking bus ran out of gas _again_, Yukiyama?! How many times do I have to tell you to put gas in it! Now you're going to make all of the new temporary workers late!"

Another person was in the lobby too. Shirose hummed as she put on her white coat with a hoodie. _Oh well, I guess I can't see Yuki earlier today_. The albino girl smiled to herself after zipping herself up. When she reached to touch her hood to put it on, she paused the moment Akashi walked down the stairs. Their eyes shortly met and she smirked mockingly. _I can't help it. He annoys me with that look in his eyes._ She mentally defended herself.

Kurosawa lowered her voice after noticing Akashi and she turned to lean her back on the counter, continuing to scold Yukiyama. "Then all of you better run over here," she sulked. "And then I'll give you one _good_ smack on the head. I'll even make Aohana join me to punish you."

Down on the bottom of the stairs, Akashi's eyes never left Shirose. She opened her mouth, "You're up early, Akashi. Shouldn't someone like you be the last one to wake? All of the slaves aren't up yet."

"They are _nowhere_ as being my slaves," Akashi stated, narrowing his eyes. "They are my friends."

"Aw, haha," she sneered. Her smirk was stuck on her face. She felt like talking for just a little bit since he was still looking at her with the same expression. "I was hoping you were some kind of a tyrant emperor… because eventually, his own people will rise and bring him down. Lucky for you, your 'friends' seemed to respect you. How _sad_." And unfair.

There was a slight change in Akashi's eyes. It told her to back off, but she continued to hold up by herself. "Humph," Akashi raised his left hand. She blinked when his right hand took something out of his pocket. And it was a jerky. The lean meat was thrown toward her and she could only stare in confusion. Akashi then snapped his fingers with his left hand.

Kurosawa flattened her eyes, looking over her shoulders at the same time as placing the phone down. She did not say goodbye to Yukiyama either.

A bark was heard after Akashi gave the signal. Shirose's nerves jumped as the dog ran down the stairs and his eyes locked on the jerky that was heading over to her. Tetsuya Two ran happily and Shirose tried to back away, however she missed her step and begun falling backwards. Akashi observed her face turning even paler than her skin. She really was horrified in that second. And he believed she deserved it.

Once Shirose fell on her bottom, she shut her eyes and cried out helplessly, "SHIRORO!"

Akashi blinked when he saw a small white snake crawling out from the living room. It rushed to Tetsuya Two and wrapped its body around his front right paw, tripping him successfully and he rolled twice and landed on his stomach. The size of the snake's head and body was about an inch. The snake was only about eighty centimeters long, rather too small, and Tetsuya Two was not harm from it constricting his paw. He simply wagged his tail and stared at the white snake with red eyes inquisitively.

"An albino snake?" Akashi raised an eyebrow. How could he _not_ have seen that coming? With a small smirk, he fixed his gaze to Shirose. "Weak and fragile just like _you_."

She glared and quickly got up on her feet. Saying nothing, she rushed out of the lobby, slamming her feet into her shoes and opened the door. "I don't care. If the end of the world ever comes, we can all _die_ together," she grumbled. And then she slammed the door shut.

Kurosawa furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. "Shiroro, head back before your body freezes in the middle of nowhere," she frowned to the white snake.

The legless reptile moved away and Tetsuya Two got up on his paws. "You girls had a pet snake?" Akashi questioned, looking over to the black haired young woman slowly. The snake crawled away and Tetsuya Two followed closely. Kurosawa nodded as the two animals went into the living room. "You're keeping an Dasypeltis type of snake?"

"Oh, you're well educated," Kurosawa met his gaze, slightly surprised. She folded her arms to her chest and nodded. "Yes. Shiroro is a harmless egg-eating snake. Last year, we found her in a package Aohana ordered from Africa. At first, we didn't know what kind of snake it was… so we asked the people in the city. And blah, blah, blah… since Shiroro doesn't have any teeth to bite, we decided to take care of her ourselves. And I named her Shiroro."

_Sounded like Kurosawa named the snake after Shirose or something. And Akashi had the strangest feeling about the snake and Shirose. The two of them were albino. And their fate seemed similar to him. …But why was it?_

"Shiroro is kinda like Shirose too," Kurosawa mumbled in an annoyed tone. She began moving the messy papers around, wondering how they always got messy in the first place. "They just show up one day and started to live here… What the hell is heavens thinking, bringing them into my life? And there's Akahime and Aohana… I swear…"

Akashi stepped closer to the counter and placed his hand on it. Tetsuya Two just hurried back into the lobby, taking the jerky with his mouth and then rushed to the living room. "Tell me about Shirose Shinju," he said, unknowingly feeling something was odd.

The young woman had a silent look. Then she frowned at him. "…If you're interested in her, I can tell you," Kurosawa remarked. He stared at her quietly while she continued saying, "But if you don't have the slightest of interest, you'll just waste time. Can't you see how _late_ Yukiyama is?" She let out a long, deep sigh into the ceiling. The candles on the white chandelier were gone from there.

"…Then we will help you," Akashi suggested. By 'we,' he meant every single one of them up on the second floor.

She snapped her head to him and responded in a monotone, "That would be _awesome_ of you. Please help me." Who cares if they were guests? Kurosawa's morning was already driving her mad. "Give me a second, please, I need to tell the other two girls about this…"

Kurosawa hurried around the front counter, walking by him and toward the living room. Akashi then trailed after her to check on the animals. In the living room, Akashi saw Kurosawa opening a door on the left. Inside of that room, he knew it was the bedroom where the four girls shared. It was the only room in the house that was unexplored, therefore, he knew. And apparently, that same bedroom had two doors, one connecting to the living room and the other down the hallway where the three bathrooms were located.

Tetsuya Two and Shiroro stayed on the rectangular carpet with hues of dark blue and green. The dog was trying to share the jerky with the snake's closed mouth, but he was not making any progress as the snake did not reciprocate. Albeit, Shiroro climbed along the dog's neck to wrap around his warm body for heat. Tetsuya Two seemed fine with it and ate the jerky alone.

They appeared to be quite cozy with one another. Akashi lowered his eyes and scoffed when he thought about Shirose.

"_If the end of the world ever come, we can all _die_ together." _

_Shirose Shinju was nothing but words. That line would do no good for her or anyone. She only said it out of annoyance. Akashi truly found no interest in her. There was no point to ask about her. …Nevertheless, he remained making the effort to bear her in mind. Why was it that he kept thinking about that particular albino girl?_

_Perhaps fate was calling._

* * *

Author's note: Thank you very much for reading!


	5. Year 1 - Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I do not mean to confuse any readers about who is Akashi's twin. Uh… actually… I _am_ doing that. XD It's just that no characters know about Akashi having a twin, so I can't make it obvious when they all clearly have no clue. Even Akashi doesn't know.

For now, enjoy reading!

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 5**

* * *

_It snowed late last night. The whiteness stood only about a foot and a half high on the sidewalks and roads. Akashi's eyes traced the footsteps from the living room window. Shirose had left earlier and she must have struggled in the snow when she walked through them. He could tell the remnants in the snow she stepped in. But she pushed herself forward and may not have looked back._

_Why did she leave early in the morning for? Did Kurosawa assign her an errand?_

Takao gasped. "Whaaaa?! Say that again!"

"Chores," Kurosawa nodded with a blank face.

Everybody was in the lobbing for a short meeting, which Akashi called. A few of them seemed distracted with their eyes in the living room because Tetsuya Two walked around with a white snake wrapped his body.

"But snowball fight," Takao tried to smile with his hands lifting up to his chest level.

Kurosawa closed her eyes and brushed her black hair behind her right ear. "If Akashi gave his word, you should be expected to help," she remarked uncaringly.

"I'm fine, but…" Kagami uttered. He did not feel like listening to Akashi, however, he was willingly to help.

Murasakibara sighed, "Too troublesome… but if Akashi said so."

"I'm happy to assist you!" Moriyama waved his arm because Murasakibara was standing right in front of him. The lobby made everyone trapped him there as well.

Kurosawa could already sense they were okay with the idea and she cleared her throat to let them know not to interrupt. "For each group, I already arranged who will get which chores," she notified, leaning her weight on her right leg. "Hopefully, my temp hired workers will show up while you all run my errands. Just for the morning."

_I wonder how she's going to group us with chores. _Momoi stared curiously. Had Kurosawa even memorized all of their names and faces?

"Since we have someone here who eats a _lot_ under my roof," Kurosawa picked up a piece of a notebook paper. Both Midorima and Aomine accusingly averted their heads to Kagami, who sweat dropped in respond. Kurosawa waved the paper in the air, "I have reconsider the amount we should have for every meal and whenever you all desire to eat. For examples, midnight snacks. People who sleep in Rooms One and Three will go and do the grocery shopping. Everything you need to get is on here. Akahime will guide you to the store as well."

"I _have_ to go outside?" Murasakibara complained within a heartbeat.

Imayoshi exchanged a quiet look to Kasamatsu. "I really rather not step in the snow myself," Kasamatsu shrugged indifferently.

"Damn," Takao held back a smirk. "Walking in the snow is so tempting…! But I'll wait until we're all together so we can play snowball fight."

As soon as Akashi left the living room, his hand took the paper from Kurosawa. "Akahime, hurry up and lead them away already," Kurosawa called with her head to the living room.

A sound of a door opening from the other hall was heard and Akahime ran up to Kurosawa's back. "I'm here, I'm here!" the redhead just finished tying her hair up in the same style from last night. After she was done, she saluted and beamed. "Alright, I'm ready! I'll lead the way to the store! Get your coats and shoes ready!"

As the groups moved about to the front door, Kurosawa waited for a moment for them to prepare themselves. "Akahime, make sure not to run off without them," Kurosawa peered.

With a nervous laugh, Akahime moved her head to smile at her. "Loud and clear, ma'am!"

"Mannn," Murasakibara still whined.

Kurosawa now paid attention to the other groups, who were waiting for their 'mission' of the day. "Akashi mentioned Kagami could cook," she told them. Kagami blinked. "So people in Room Five will help prepare a warm breakfast for everyone."

"Eh?!" Sakurai terrifyingly yelled.

Himuro smiled, "Then we'll cook."

"But I can't do that!" Sakurai took a step up, waving his hands back and forth. He was already sweating. "I'll only destroy your dishware!"

At the same time as Kurosawa frowned to him, which quieted him, Momoi giggled. "I can switch places with Sakurai-kun," Momoi offered.

"No, Akashi noted you're bad with cooking, Momoi," Kurosawa stated coldly. Momoi pouted and Kise snickered in the background. "And Sakurai, I heard you could cook too. Be quiet and just do it!" Sakurai slightly blushed and lowered his head in obedience.

Kuroko glanced back when Akahime had opened the door. She beamed as she held it opened for the five guys, who took their time to walk out. And then they left and she closed the door shut.

"Besides," Kurosawa eyed Sakurai tiredly. "Aohana prefers to do the cooking herself. You three can just help her prepare a little and serve the dishes. If she likes you all enough, she'll allow some help with cooking." Sakurai was still nervous and played with his fingers as Himuro patted him on his shoulder to relax him. Kurosawa now called, "Aohana, time to come out and take them with you."

A door closed and a sigh followed. Kuroko blinked when the person, named Aohana, walked out the same doorway Akahime took. What stood out the most of her was her black eye patch over her right eye. Aohana said nothing and did not walk into the lobby and continued to march down the hall where the dining room was.

_What a cute girl!_ Moriyama thought as his eyes widened.

"Get to it, boys," Kurosawa pointed with her thump.

"Uh… but…" Sakurai mumbled.

Scowling, Kagami pushed him from behind. "Shut up already!" he raised his voice.

"Yes, I'm sorry!"

Himuro chuckled and the three men paced by Kurosawa and disappeared beyond the doorway.

"As for the rest of you," Kurosawa focused on them. There was Aomine, Midorima, Moriyama, Kuroko, Kise, and Momoi left. "And with me, we'll be shoveling the snow outside. The backyard _and_ down the hill."

"Holy dang," Kise squinted his eyes, feeling the labor already. But it should be no problem at all. It was a long way down the hill though. _Do these girls always shovel after it snows?_ Kise wondered. He was slightly amazed with how the people up north lived like.

"Do you have a snow blower?" Aomine hoped with boredom.

"No," she replied with a straight face.

With Aomine grunting about the idea of shoveling snow with his bare hands, Midorima requested, "I must know my horoscope first before going out. Is there a way to you to get a Wi-Fi?"

Kurosawa replied with the same tone, "No." And then she added, "The only horoscope you'll ever get is a _kick_ in the ass if you _keep_ asking about it."

Kuroko and Momoi both turned their heads to the now-silent greenhead. "Midorin, were you bothering her about that?" Momoi pouted disapprovingly. Avoiding others to see his expression, Midorima glanced away without a word.

"Alright, get your coats on," Kurosawa shifted her feet to balance herself. Around them she went and she took her black coat from the stand. Putting it on quickly, she made an exhausted face just by thinking touching snow. "Let's get this over with."

Being the first to make his move, Moriyama applauded, "Time to work!"

Kise smiled caringly and patted on Kuroko on the back. "Don't wear yourself out now, Kurokocchi," the blonde slightly worried.

"Thank you, I'll be fine," Kuroko nodded to him. And with no smiles. Which tore Kise's heart since the blonde sagged his head dramatically.

\~o~/

In the kitchen, Aohana never spoke a single word. She took out bags of flours, placing them on the table in the middle of the kitchen. Kagami, Himuro, and Sakurai were standing by the doorway, watching her every move while at the same time, wondering if she actually needed help at all.

Kagami approached to the table and picked up the bag. "Are we making pancakes?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Aohana had taken two gallons of milk from the inside of the brown refrigerator.

"What else are we making?" Himuro's lips cured upward. He was still with Sakurai, both standing by the door.

She answered after putting the gallons of milk on the table. Kagami was standing across from her and she glance to the boys. "Whatever you guys want," she answered unexcitedly. "Every single person has their own taste."

Kagami's face brightened up and rolled up his sleeves. "Then I'll make a toasted sandwich of bacon, egg, and cheese!" he declared. "Waffles with strawberries would be great too."

Looking to him, Aohana commented, "Sounds good. We should have enough in this kitchen."

Before she moved to get the ingredients, Sakurai raised his hand. But she did not see it and made her way to the refrigerator. So Sakurai voiced as loudly as possible, "Um, if there's anything we can do to help…!"

Whilst Kagami spun casually to his left where the sink was, Himuro went further into the room and grabbed for one of the bags of the flour. With Aohana closing the refrigerator with her foot, she did not give Sakurai a glance as she carried a box of strawberries and a carton of eggs. Kagami turned on the sink water and Sakurai seemed baffled when there was no respond from the eye patch girl.

Setting the strawberries and egg cartons on the table, Aohana's hand reached under the table. She took out a note with a sticky tape on it and looked to Sakurai at the corner of her right eye. "You and Mr. Mole can start mixing flour and the likes in a big bowl," she informed first, waving the note once.

"Yes!" Sakurai nodded, heading up to the table now.

After Kagami was done washing his hands, he turned the water off and directed his view over his shoulder whereas shaking his hands dry. "I'm Himuro Tatsuya," the young man with the mole introduced himself.

Aohana now fixed her eyes to him and Himuro took the note from her hand gently. She said nothing as Sakurai was beside Himuro. "And I'm Sakurai Ryo!" he bowed. "Please to meet you, Aohana-san!"

She blinked and leaned her weight on one leg. Kagami then smiled, "And I'm Kagami Taiga."

"…Okay, you two, go wash your hands," Aohana pointed to both Himuro and Sakurai. Before they responded, she already swiftly rotated in her place to head for the cabinets above the counter. She opened it and took a bag of salt and a box of sugar out.

When Himuro and Sakurai moved toward the sink, Kagami strolled through the kitchen to look for something. Afterwards, he inquired to her, "Where are the aprons?"

She sighed deeply, pacing in the direction of the refrigerator. Grabbing multi-colored aprons between the fridge and the wall, she tossed it with her left hand. Kagami caught them easily, but his eyes widened at how quick she thrown them. "Get those on and start working," she furrowed her eyebrows, approaching the table without eye contact.

_It was almost as if she was mad at them. But why? They had not even said or done anything wrong or to offend her. Furthermore, Kagami thought he smelled something from the aura she gave off in that instant. Or perhaps she was just used to being alone in the kitchen. …Maybe._

_Other than that, she had given him about six aprons when there were only four of them in the room. …She must have been _really _angry to just take the aprons out for them._

\~o~/

For some time now, Akahime and the guys shopped inside the store. They had simply walked about three blocks away from the hill where Little House of Otaru stood. Thank goodness for that because Murasakibara was about to snap.

The first one to leave the store was Akashi. In his right hand, he carried a mysterious, little, rectangular box in a small white plastic bag. As for his left hand, he carried a bigger white plastic bag of vegetables, which was his 'job' to obtain when Akahime nervously tried to give everybody a list of what to purchase with Kurosawa's money.

Akahime's very existence annoyed Akashi so he rushed out of there as soon as he could. No one knew he was out either and he wandered off to explore a bit of the city. He strolled by a frozen river, which the edges of the water were blocked with a meter-long stonewall that were covered a bit by snow. Easily scanning around to remember the way back, his ears picked up something.

Shirose's laughter filled the air. His ears traced for the sounds and his feet obeyed his command. Her high pitch spontaneous sound was lively and was synchronized amid the other laughter of kids.

Soon, Akashi came upon a small two-story building. He read the sign of the building: _Otaru Orphanage_. In the front yard, kids ran all about and away from the playground. The redhead paused at the corner of the short baby blue, wooden fences that protected the whole place somewhat securely and he stared at the childish scene.

"Shiro-chan!" the kids shouted happily. "You can't catch us!"

They played tag. "I'll get you brats in no time!" Shirose jogged after them with a smirk. The group of kids split into two, going different ways, and she head to the right. But then her eyes widened with surprise when she saw Akashi beyond the fence. He made no emotion on his face, but she did. Disgusted, she stopped in her tracks and looked the other way. _Oh god, no._ She furrowed her eyebrows.

All of the kids realized she stopped playing and they stopped running. "Shiro-chan?" a girl with black short hair blinked, her finger inquiringly on her lips.

Shirose sighed and remained still. _I'm not moving until he's gone. _She told herself.

"Are you mad?" a boy inquired, looking worried.

Smirking at the back of her head, she waited longer as the kids started to walk to her slowly. They all seemed concerned and she held in a laugh.

Akashi was scoffing in his mind as her back remained to face him. _So, she refuses to show this side of her?_ He was amused. It was like she was saying not to judge her on it. Let us see how she would react to his coming action.

The kids surrounded Shirose and one of the boys took her hand. "Shiro-chan?"

Shirose listened over the kids' mumbling questions and she heard Akashi's footsteps fading away. With a thought, _Whew, he went away_. Now she could act like herself with the kids. When her eyes fixed to the kids, she felt a sudden intense stare on her back and she tiredly squinted her eyes. Slowly looking back, Akashi closer to the gate fence with his arms leaning on it. Her eyes moved to avoid his aggravated gaze. _Are you kidding me?_ He must really want to intimidate her.

_And she had still not forgotten about him scaring her with the dog. That was so horrible of him. Such a nasty personality!_

"Shiro-chan, there's a scary man staring at us!"

The albino girl's lips crook into a smile to the short, black haired girl, "_Scary_ man?" Pointing to Akashi without looking at him, Shirose queried, "Him?" …And then she started to laugh humorously.

Akashi narrowed his eyebrows. She continued to laugh and her head slightly turned from shaking. He stared at her smiling, yet vexing face.

"Shiro-chan, make him go away."

Without any delay to grant the kids' their wish, Shirose's body fully faced to the redhead. "Hey, scary man!" she waved, grinning sadistically. "Please go away! …Pppttt!" She covered her mouth with her right hand to hold back her giggles.

_She laughed like he would never be good with kids. And soon afterwards, Akashi caught the emotion in her disrespectful eyes that dared him to try. And he accepted her challenge. After all, his victory was already certain._

"Gyaa!" The kids all dashed behind Shirose like baby mammals running to the aid of their parent.

She blinked to the kids behind her and one of them tugged her coat. Pleased that the kids were afraid of Akashi, her eyes returned back to the gate when the scary man walked through it. Akashi had lowered the bag of vegetables on the snow and it did not fall over. He took the small plastic bag in his other hand and took out a box. It read: _Chocolate Animals_.

"Anyone want one?" Akashi opened the box without looking away from the kids.

Shirose glared, "It could be poisonous!"

The kids all blinked. Akashi unconcernedly convinced, "I bought it a few minutes ago. I guarantee it is fresh and _delicious_. Even a friend I know would kill for these."

"…I want one," a shy girl raised her hand.

"Me too!" a boy's greedy voice roared. "I want to eat a tiger chocolate!"

Shirose frowned as the kids moved forward one by one. They started to smile and eager to be given chocolate without her consent. Shirose averted her eyes away for a second. _Great, I can't believe these kids._ She wanted to slap herself. When her eyes gone back to watch over the kids, she blinked when Akashi looked to her silently. He was passing the candies out to the kids one by one and never avoided his eyes away from her. Shirose tried not to react, but her lips pouted.

Before she knew it, the kids consumed every chocolate animal.

"Hey, mister!" a boy waved to get his attention. Akashi softened his eyes so he would not scare the kid. "Want to play with us?"

Shirose kept her mouth shut, but she felt Akashi could hear her anyway. He replied, "Why not. Shirose would be _happy_ to have my company as well."

A bothered groan escaped the white-hair girl's lips and the kids gaped at her curiously. "Whatever you kids want…" Shirose giggled softly down to them, quickly changing her mood.

It was not against the rules for a stranger to play with them as long as a volunteer like Shirose knew the person. Even the kids knew about it and consequently she could not make excuses. Plus, there was Akashi, who seemed persisted to stay longer. Shirose was too indolent to fight back and just let the event unfold itself.

"Let's play Kagome Kagome!" a boy threw his fist in the air.

One of the girls nodded, "Okay!"

A boy took Shirose's hand and tugged her. Shirose pretended to giggle as she still refused to have Akashi see her having fun with the kids. All of the children held each other hands and a shy little girl took Akashi's hand. When the circle was formed, half of the kids realized the circle was yet to be completed. And they all saw the gap between Shirose and Akashi.

The redhead took Shirose's left hand. He lifted it up curiously and studied at the dry skin on the back of her palm. They were cracking and he could almost see a red line of blood. "You should know better to be wearing gloves or mittens," Akashi remarked, eyeing to her. Even he wore gloves and her hand felt as cold as ice through the fabric.

She snatched her hand back. "I don't like my fingers not being able to breathe," she grinned at him.

By her single sentence, his eyes became dangerously all of the sudden. To him, her words were misleading. She tried to hide something, but he already had figured her out. "So you _do_ have a death wish," he observed. Shirose narrowed her eyes and said nothing. The kids talked at the same time about starting the game, however, no one stood in the center of the circle yet. And then Akashi suspected, "For a loser who thought about dying once should not try to challenge me."

_His words truly hit her hard, as if he invaded her privacy. And it was a _very _personal matter to her as well. How could he have known that? Shirose's face grew completely still as she gazed into his eyes. …Yes. It was his eyes. They knew everything as soon as they laid their eyes upon people. She did not realize that fact until now. All the more reason she begun hating him. How _dare _he talk like he knew what she gone through?_

_And his words hurt. He looked down on her. Even if he uttered nothing more, his eyes continued to convey them, reading her every thought._

"Shiro-chan?" a girl uneasily smiled. "…What's wrong?"

The white-hair girl shook off the boy's hand on her and she walked to the center. Bending her knees and covering her eyes, she forced a light laugh. "Okay, let's start playing," she supposed with a shrug.

"Yay!" a couple of the kids cheered. No one wanted to be in the middle for it was too hard to guess the person behind them if they were 'it.'

The boy who was holding Shirose's hand a second ago now held Akashi's and the game begun with the kids singing a song while sidestepping counterclockwise. Akashi only kept quiet as the circle went around Shirose slowly. "Who is standing behind you?" the kids finished the chant as they all stopped taking sidesteps.

The one behind her was Akashi. Everyone was quiet. And then Akashi closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

Silently, Shirose cried behind her hands that remained over her eyes. She gave no words and could not move. If the kids saw her tears, they would make a ruckus about it. So she tried to hurry and get herself back together. However, the tears kept on coming. Akashi really did hit her soft spot.

"…Shiro-chan?" one of the kids called with confusion.

The redhead opened his eyes and loosened his grips of the two kids' hands. His eyes stared to Shirose's back. _She's too sensitive._ He thought to himself. He understood he had crossed the line by saying that to her. Yet, he did not regret it. No one probably ever said it to her before. She needed to hear it out loud from another person. Perhaps it would help her grow and learn to know her place.

The quietness continued and eventually the kids let each other's hands go. The little ones in front of Shirose saw tears slipping down hers hands, closed lips, and chin.

_A snowflake fell in Akashi's sight again. In that moment, he envisioned Shirose as a pure and white snowflake searching for hope to stay up in the air. Truly, he judged she would not be able to do so. Not as long as she had that delicate body. Resembling a beauteous snowflake, she was frail as well as powerless. Her tears explained it all._

_However to Shirose, she believed she could become strong as the amount of tears she shed from the past and now and in the future. For the reason she thought of it that way was because if she constantly to felt so weak, she would look down at everyone even more. For looking down on her._

_In spite of the fact that her body was so useless, how could she prove herself to conceited people like Akashi? …She does not have to prove herself. There was no need. They had always been worlds apart. They would never understand each other. Ever._

"Shiro."

Softly, she smiled for the voice that called her and she wiped her tears away. Shirose got up from her feet and the kids seemed relieved to see her face, noticing traces of tears on her eyes. Her head tilted to the left and she looked at the corner of her eyes. Yukiyama appeared to have just passed by beyond the wooden fence and there were two other girls and one guy behind him.

"Yuki," Shirose continued to smile and shifted her body to face him. "Still running late?"

Akashi slowly glanced to Yukiyama, who smirked directly to Akashi. "Not really," Yukiyama's eyes laid back to the white-hair girl. "But Kurosawa is going to kick my ass once I get there. Therefore, I better hurry before you see me in such a sorry state."

"Aw, ah haha," she stuck her tongue at him. "I want to see it. Wait for me, I'll go to tell the adults I'm leaving early today."

"It's _way_ too early," Yukiyama remarked with a sigh. He really did not want her to see him getting hit by Kurosawa.

Ignoring him, Shirose went to pat on the back of the heads of the children. "It's about time to head back inside, cuties," she expressed with care. They whined and she grinned. "Come on, let's go."

"Fineeee," one of the boys uttered.

Picking up the bag of vegetables, Akashi turned his body toward the entrance. Before he opened the gate to leave though, he coldly stared to Yukiyama who lightly glared at him. Akashi knew if he stepped out, Yukiyama would only kick it closed. However, that was not Akashi was concerned about. He was not concern about anything. "If you have nothing to say but turn to violence, you are not worth the time to deal with," Akashi deadly stated.

The redhead opened the gate outward. When he averted to the left, Yukiyama snickered, "Any girl who choose you would more or less be happy or miserable. And I _hope_ she would be _miserable_."

Akashi ceased to walk and narrowed his eyes. The words Yukiyama spoke were like a curse he casted. Soon, an intriguing thought followed and Akashi directed his gaze over his shoulder to meet the silver-eyed man. "Be careful what you wish for," Akashi wore a faded smirk. "If I steal Shirose away from you, she would be _miserable_."

Shooting a glare, Yukiyama moved forward. But then a kick knocked behind his right knee, causing it to bend forward and landing on the knee in the snow. Akashi now stared to the short girl who kicked Yukiyama on her own personal accord. Her semi-long dark brown hair touched on her collarbone and her bangs as straight as her hair. The color of her eyes was brown.

"Yukiyama, you shouldn't imprecate others like that," she innocently smiled, fixing her bangs over her left ear. Her right foot was still in the air and Yukiyama squinted his eyes over his shoulder to her. "Because black magic always backfires. Like how it happened when that scarlet-hair, scary guy turned your words on you."

"Who _said_ it was black magic?" Yukiyama grumbled, keeping his mind cool. While her foot returned to the ground, Yukiyama stood up and brushed the snow off his knee. "Who are you again?" he asked, wanting to remember her name. His eyes were on her, studying the details of her round face and her long eyelashes.

She beamed childishly, tilting her head to him. "Ito," she replied before slightly bowing with respect. After that, her almond brown eyes winked to Yukiyama. "Ito Aina, fifteen years old."

At the same time, Akashi's eyes observed the other two who had yet to speak. One guy and one girl. Together with those two and Ito Aina, they must be the three temporally workers Kurosawa mentioned earlier.

Afterward, Akashi's eyes lay on Ito, who continued to speak in a child-like manner with Yukiyama. The redhead discerned she kicked Yukiyama in the leg on purpose for two reasons. One, she had a sixth sense, which she seemed to have indicated Yukiyama's curse. And two, she saved Yukiyama before Akashi could attack in respond. Because Yukiyama was truly resorting on violence in that very moment.

_Similar to snowflakes, they all simply cross paths in the unstable wind. And a snowstorm was on its way. But Akashi ought to be able to handle it. All he had to do was ignore everything else around him, for snowflakes were not worth the time to admire for its fleeting beauty._

* * *

Author's note: Okay. I want to spend time with my family. So I'll update the next chapter after the New Year's, or even later. I hope you guys won't criticize me for picking family members first. (…chuckles nervously…)

And thank you for your time to read this chapter!


	6. Year 1 - Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: Thank you so kindly for the New Year's wishes **lucyheart** and **Ninja99**! And here's the next chapter! Enjoy, everyone!

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 6**

* * *

"What's up with the eye patch anyway?" Kagami boldly inquired. He was rinsing strawberries in the sink at the same time as Aohana walked by him. His eyes paid attention to his work and he waited for her answer.

She frowned first, "Akahime accidentally squirted lime juice into my eye when she wanted to help me cook yesterday afternoon, which I now forbid her to even enter the kitchen when I'm present." The blue haired girl picked up a hanging white cutting board from the wall and turned to the table in the center of the room. She continued to explain, "My eyes are very sensitive, so the doctor said to keep the eye patch on until New Year's."

"Oh," Kagami blinked, dumbfounded.

_The New Year's this Friday_. Sakurai remembered, cooking bacon over the stove with a flat, black pan. Sakurai wondered what the others would do to celebrate on that day. Unless Akashi had it planned, but no one decided what to do in Otaru, or in Sapporo, besides playing with the snow. Sakurai smiled pleasantly and hoped the winter vacation would be a good one.

As for Himuro, he was mixing ingredients for the pancakes in a big bowl on the table. He was just across from Aohana, who begun taking the knife to slice a block of cheese. "It must be uncomfortable seeing through one eye," Himuro looked to her.

She said nothing and carried on to work quietly. In her overall analysis of the boys in the kitchen, no one was messing up. At first, she thought Sakurai would make a huge chaos because he kept apologizing almost every single minute. However, everything he did was with care. He proved her wrong.

In front of Kagami, he glanced out the window and saw Moriyama outside and waving. Kagami made a face, getting the idea Moriyama wanted to get Aohana's attention. Within that moment, Aomine came and swung his shovel to Moriyama's head, who just ducked in time. Furthermore Kagami could almost hear their voices through the closed window.

"Get back to work," Aomine frowned, the shovel lowered to the ground in his right hand. The reason Aomine swung his shovel at him was because Moriyama would stop every now and then just to get the bluehead girl's attention from the kitchen. And he highly doubt she even notice Moriyama during all those time.

"I _am_ working!" Moriyama squinted his eyes at him. "And is that how you treat an upperclassman, Aomine?" He was lucky to actually dodge it in time. Or maybe Aomine was too lazy to use his actual strength.

Out in the backyard, Kurosawa swung her own shovel over to both of their heads, which they both evaded in time as well. "Shut up and resume clearing the snow," she remarked with a light glare to the men, who stared at her tiredly.

The backyard was quite wide, so it was just the three of them there. Midorima and Kise were both working together on the left side of the house, clearing the path where the sidewalk was. Kuroko and Momoi were taking care of the front first so they could meet up with the others and then start down the hill together.

Staring down the hill after shoveling for a bit, Momoi observed at the footprints in the deep snow. She really hoped they could get this done as soon as possible before the others returned. Walking in deep snow was really annoying. And there were two sidewalks with the street in the middle that went around down the hill. How in the world could they finish it before her friends returned from shopping? And then she suddenly had an idea as a smile spread on her face.

"Ki-chan, Midorin!" her upper body turned to the side of the house. She could see their faces being lifted up and they looked to at her at the same time. "Let's play a little game!"

"What is it?" Kise brightly smiled. As for Midorima, he did not seem enthusiastic.

\~o~/

"Whew! We're got done earlier than I thought!" Akahime beamed, throwing her arms into the air. Mission successful!

_The redhead girl was ahead of the group of boys and she carried nothing. Because Akashi noted that she should not be helping them with the groceries… and she objected to it for a while because of his decision. With his scary face though, Akahime gave in._

_And just now, Akahime suddenly tripped._

"Kya!" she had fallen on her miserable face.

Takao tried not to laugh and hurried over to her since he was the closet. "Are you alright, Akahime-chan?" he grinned, holding out his left free hand on her right side.

Bringing herself to her knees, she laughed uneasily when they made eye contact. "Y-Yes," she nodded timidly, taking his hand.

When Takao pulled her up on her feet, Murasakibara fixed his eyes on Akashi next to him. The two of them were behind Imayoshi and Kasamatsu. "Don't you think it would be strange if Akahime had a brother who is also called Aka_hime_…?" Murasakibara realized, slowly blinking once. Akashi merely glanced to the tallest guy. "Cause I would feel sad for the poor guy. I would hate to be called 'red princess' by my friends."

Imayoshi held in an amused chuckle and Akahime blushed shamefully over to the boys. Apparently she heard it and visualized, "Yeah, that would be horrifying if I had a brother with the same last name as me…"

Kasamatsu wanted to frown at Murasakibara for saying such a thing, even if it was true. He gave Akahime an assuring face, "It won't be that bad. We'll just call him by his first name or something."

"Oh, that too," she blinked at Kasamatsu. Although, the thought still bothered her because Murasakibara brought it up.

"Do you have any siblings, Akahime-chan?" Takao smiled curiously to her. He became curious since they were on the topic.

She shook her head quickly, "I'm an only child…" Takao noticed her expression changing a bit, however, her eyes quickly twinkled, "But everyone at the house are like my sisters!"

From out of nowhere… "It would be interesting if Akashi's last name was Akahime…" Imayoshi smirked as rubbed his chin with his free right hand. He was holding three bags in the other.

"Then the world would end by Aka-chin's wrath," Murasakibara squinted his eyes. He could never imagine Akashi as _Akahime_. And he shivered at the thought.

"Eh? Aka-chin?" Akahime's eyes widened. Did Murasakibara just give her a nickname? She slapped her face after quickly realizing it when she looked to the other redhead. "Oh, oh! You mean Akashi-san! Sorry!"

Akashi moved his feet and walked pass Murasakibara, Imayoshi, and Kasamatsu. "Stop wasting time," he told them. They talked long enough, and if they continued to, Shirose and the other group would catch up from behind. He was not in the mood to see her or even Yukiyama.

Before he moved pass Takao and Akahime though… "Oh, I'm sorry!" Akahime hurried to run ahead. "Please stay behind me! I shall protect everyone until we get back to the house!"

"You really don't have to," Kasamatsu raised an eyebrow to her back as she marched on.

"It is _my_ duty!" she threw up a fist, smiling happily to herself. "Off we go, everybody!" And no one else commented on it.

"Oh, that reminds me," Takao said. He was walking with Akashi now so he fixed his eyes on him. "What were you doing standing outside, Akashi? Why didn't you just wait for us inside the store?" Akashi did not respond. After a few more seconds of silence, Takao chuckled to himself and ignored the question he asked.

_When Akashi had left Yukiyama's group, who were still waiting for Shirose, he already returned to the same store and waited in the front because everyone was at the cash register. And that was pretty much it. Nothing out of the ordinary either. No one was going to suspect Akashi wandering off on his own accord._

After three blocks on foot, they were near the hill of where Little House of Otaru stood. The sidewalk where Akahime and the boys strolled on was plowed by a snow blower, perhaps just a while ago by the workers of Otaru. And Akahime spotted Kise and Midorima just in front of them and they were panting with the shovels in their hands. Kise was on the sidewalk where Akahime was and Midorima was across the road on the other sidewalk… and the sidewalks leading up to the house were all shoveled. The paths were cleared of snow.

"Good job!" Momoi giggled. Akahime's group all lifted their eyes higher and Momoi was jogging carefully to Midorima's side of the path he made. Momoi raised Midorima's arm, declaring, "The winner is Midorima!"

Kise pouted, "Aw mannnnn."

"Humph," Midorima pushed up his glasses, catching his breath. When Momoi let his arm go, he noticed Akashi and the others. "And it seems we made it time before them."

"Without any help of your horoscope either," Momoi smiled teasingly at him.

Midorima grunted and faced his head away, "I still need to read my horoscope. I won't be lucky forever." Momoi just giggled and her eyes directed to Akashi and the others. Next, she waved happily.

Akashi then walked pass every single one of them and Akahime hurried to catch up, still onto her goal of her duty. Within the second she rushed to be ahead of him, he grabbed her arm just before she slipped. "Gah!" she held onto his helping aid and smiled nervously to herself. She quickly got up and bowed. "Sorry about that! You didn't have to!"

Without a word, he simply paced ahead when she bowed two more times. Akahime seemed hurt and felt she had burdened him in some way, so she rushed to go in front of him yet again. _What a persistent girl_. Akashi thought, going up the hill quietly.

Murasakibara and Kise happened to walk with each other while Takao, Imayoshi and Kasamatsu followed them. And on the other side of the road, Midorima and Momoi made their way up as well, where Kuroko was waiting at the top.

"Hmm," Murasakibara blinked a couple of times, his eyes gazing to the backs of the two redheads.

Kise had to questioned, "What is it, Murasakibaracchi?" The purplehead still appeared bored as ever nevertheless, Kise really saw something in his friend's curious expression.

"I don't know," Murasakibara shrugged. His eyes met Kise's gaze and he pointed to Akashi and Akahime. "If I didn't know Aka-chin, I would have wondered if those two were siblings."

The blonde blinked and slowly stared over to the redheads. A strange feeling overwhelmed Kise, who now smiled. "You may be right," he lightly laughed later.

"Which reminds me," Imayoshi suddenly spoke from behind. Kise and Murasakibara turned their heads between them to find Imayoshi smirking. "Have you guys heard of a legend that ran in the Akashi family line?"

Kasamatsu was the first to inquired, "What are you getting at?"

"What legend?" Takao smiled, his eyes twinkled with interest.

"Heh," Imayoshi slightly tilted his head. "The legend goes like this: if twins are born, a boy and a girl, the Akashi family will retain the boy and offer the girl elsewhere. When the twins grow up and ever meet and fall in love, the Akashi family will allow them to marry."

Takao made a strange face, "For real?"

"Did you just make that up?" Kasamatsu had to frown.

"…Disgusting," Murasakibara judged with his purity. "We must get Akahime away from Aka-chin at all costs."

Choking on saliva for a mere second, Kise looked at him, "They're not even brother and sister, Murasakibaracchi. They can't be."

"What if they were?" Murasakibara lightly glared to the blonde. "We may never know, so we have to keep them away from each other."

"How?" Imayoshi grinned, listening closely.

Murasakibara pointed to Kise, "Kise-chin, seduce her before she falls in love with Aka-chin."

"Wah?" Kise's mouth opened, a bit stunned. Just where was Murasakibara getting these ideas? "Still, what if—not that I mean Akashicchi will—but what if he falls in love with her instead?"

"There's no chance of that happening, _ever_," Murasakibara averted his eyes away to look at the backs of the redheads again. "Aka-chin will never fall for a girl like her. And we all know that very well."

While Takao snickered, Kasamatsu slapped his own face and Imayoshi smirked. "True," the glasses guy nodded.

"I am _not_ seducing anyone!" Kise pouted. "And it's just a legend! Don't get too worked up about it!"

"Even so, what if it was true?" Takao raised the question while Murasakibara nodded back and forth.

Kise groaned at them and walked ahead. "You guys are crazy," he waved to dismiss them. And they _were_ crazy. Kise did not believe in a legend, especially if it was coming from Imayoshi. Pausing in his steps, Kise rotated around and queried, "Imayoshi-san, where did you even hear about that rumor anyway?"

"Oh, so you _are_ interested," Imayoshi chuckled. Kise peered at him as his respond.

Murasakibara raised his fist lazily, "It's seducing time, Kise-chin."

"No!" Kise blurted. He was about to look very upset too. Playing around with a girl's heart was against his morals.

Kasamatsu sighed at them for a while. "In any case," he voiced and they all faced to him. "Where did you hear about it, Imayoshi-san?"

"Yeah, where?" Kise beamed, glad to have his senpai supporting him somehow.

Takao nodded with a smile, "I want to know too."

Imayoshi's lips curled up secretively, "…Nowhere, really. I just hear people whispering about it back in middle school."

"Then it has to be a lie!" Kise considered right away. "There could have been jealous people making things up!" Akashi was always at the top of his classes and it was possible he had unknown and unimportant rivals back in Teiko Middle School.

"At any rate, we have to be careful, just in case," Murasakibara suggested still.

Kise waved his shovel around and cried, "No! You do it, Murasakibaracchi! I'm not going to do seduce anyone!"

"Oh…" Murasakibara blinked. Everyone now looked at him, even Takao picked up his pace to see Murasakibara's expression that remained the same. Regardless, something seemed to have sparked inside of the purplehead. "…Okay, I'll do it."

_Someone was laughing at him. Or was it just at the back of their minds? …Murasakibara seducing? Are you kidding? There was no way it would work! …Although, Akahime appeared the type easy to get. Maybe Murasakibara could actually pull it off._

"No!" Kise objected.

"Eh?" Murasakibara made a blank face to him. "What's wrong now?"

Kise pointed to the tallest guy as they all stopped walking. "I can't let you do that to a girl, Murasakibaracchi!" he told him. "You'll just break her heart!"

A sigh heaved from Murasakibara's lips. End of discussion.

In front of the Little House of Otaru, Kurosawa just showed up with Aomine and Moriyama behind her. She saw only Kuroko and frowned. "Where are the others, Kuroko?" she asked before looking around.

Moriyama blinked when he just became aware of Kuroko's presence when his name was called. With Moriyama to the side, Aomine was a bit surprised at how Kurosawa saw Kuroko like a normal person. Did that mean anything about her, easily sensing Kuroko?

"Kise and Midorima went to clear a path down the hill," Kuroko faintly smiled to the black haired woman.

She directed her view down the hill and her eyes widened. Everyone was returning back from grocery shopping too. "Well… that was fast," she commented quietly. _These guys were really something_. She decently thought to herself. Apart from that, she shouted loudly, "Akahime, why aren't you helping them carrying anything?!"

"Sorry, ma'am!" Akahime cried helplessly. They were still a few ways down, nonetheless Kurosawa clearly saw Akahime taking the bags from Akashi with force, their hands touching against each other. He let her and continued his way silently.

"I swear…" Kurosawa mumbled, folding her arms to her chest. "Okay, listen up, people with shovels!" Momoi, Kise, and Midorima all looked up to her loud voice. "Meet me at the shed in the back to put the shovels back!"

Kise waved and replied as loudly as he could, "Roger!"

"Come, Kuroko, Aomine, Moriyama," Kurosawa spun in her spot, walking between them. None of them said anything and trailed after her.

After a couple of minutes, when Akahime finally reached to the top, she hurried and opened the door for Akashi. "Here we are," she smiled. Akashi gave no word to regard her and stepped into the house. Akahime decided to wait for the others and slowly closed the door to keep the cold air from going into the house.

And after a moment, Midorima and Momoi headed around the back with Kise hurrying to catch up with them.

Lastly, Imayoshi, Takao, Kasamatsu, and Murasakibara set their foot into the house when Akahime had the door opened for them. Soon after taking their shoes off, Sakurai's voice yelled, "I'm so sorry!"

In the kitchen, Aohana was giving Sakurai a glare. He was nervously holding up a dark blue plate to hide half of his face. Kagami and Himuro were over at the table in the center of the room, staring at the two.

"What's wrong now?" Kagami wandered around the table.

Aohana and Sakurai were facing each other by the stove, which was turned off. On the counter, there were bacons freshly made. Himuro blinked, still wondering why Sakurai was apologizing. The boy had not made a mess of anything. If at all, Sakurai was doing a very fine job in the kitchen.

With her right hand out, she continued to glare at him. Sakurai had small tears in his eyes and handed her the plate. "I'm sorry, I didn't know this plate was not supposed to be used," he shut his eyes, bowing. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Kagami stood a bit close to the bluehead hair and he saw oil on the plate. Nothing more. "That's it?" Kagami raised an eyebrow. Aohana still looked upset though. "Here, I'll wash it for you," he offered, thinking about what she was so mad about.

Aohana lowered the plate down to her right side and did not let Kagami take the plate from her. Sakurai nervously stared at her and again he said, "I'm so sorry!"

Himuro watched how Aohana bit her lower lip with Sakurai apologizing over and over. She only appeared to be getting even more upset. …_What's wrong with her?_ Himuro slightly wanted to leave his spot in case she pounced on Sakurai.

The moment Aohana raised her free, left hand and she made a fist out of it. She was quick to move it forward, aiming to hit Sakurai, but then Kagami reached out with his right hand and grabbed her left wrist. Her eyes snapped to him, who was next to her, and he gave her a serious look. "What are you doing?" Kagami questioned cautiously. The raging spark in her eye did not leave as she stared up at him.

His grip was tight and her left hand shook. Her clasped fingers loosened from being a fist and she breathed slowly to release her anger that made no sense to them. She broke away from Kagami's gaze, lowering her head to the ground. Kagami was careful to let her go. And when he did, she raised her other hand that still held the plate.

Akahime showed up at the door, "Did something—" Aohana threw the plate onto the floor and it scattered loudly, making Akahime jump and shut her mouth.

With Sakurai backing away, Kagami stared at her, ignoring the mess on the ground. "I know Sakurai's is annoying when he apologizes, but—" Kagami was saying, yet Aohana moved forward, hitting her shoulder against Kagami's arm. "Hey!" Kagami called.

Wearing an cold expression, Aohana stepped over the broken plate and Akahime hurried to move out of the way as the bluehead left the kitchen, taking the doorway to the left and she headed straight to the bedroom door pass the three bathrooms.

Back in the kitchen, Akahime walked in slowly and went to get the broom from the corner. "Sorry about her," Akahime whispered ruefully, taking the broom. Turning around, the three guys were staring at her inquisitively. "And I'm sorry, sometimes she gets emotionally… anger at random things I do not understand."

Himuro let out a sigh and Akahime made her way to the mess. "Here," Kagami held out his hand to the broom. "I'll clean it up. Can you… go get Kurosawa for us?"

"Right away, sir," Akahime nodded with a small smile. After he took the broom, she quietly made her way out of the room and did not look back.

And then… "Sakurai," Himuro stared at him. His face was pale and he seemed very frightened. "What just happened?"

"Um, I…" Sakurai's eyes wavered. "I just picked a plate from the cabinet and she… mumbled something about the plate shouldn't be used for something… I don't know! I didn't hear her clearly… I'm sorry…"

Kagami gathered the mess with the broom carefully. He frowned a second later. "Gosh, I don't get," he grumbled. "She can get _really_ pissed over nothing."

Himuro felt it was not over nothing, however, what Aohana expressed was out of the question. And there was something about her left hand. He remembered it shaking… Was Kagami holding her too roughly?

\~o~/

_Some time passed. Akashi was in the living room, staring outside that faced at the side instead of the front yard. He had heard something went wrong in the kitchen as Kurosawa was trying to figure out. Aohana locked the girls out in the bedroom, even though Kurosawa had a spare key herself. So they left the bluehead girl alone to cool off her head._

_And now, Sakurai, Himuro, and Kagami were in charge of making breakfast. Except Akashi was getting thirsty._

The front door opened and Akashi heard Yukiyama's voice, "Kurosawa, I brought the workers here!"

"Bring them over to the kitchen!" she hollered angrily.

"Wow, she must be really mad at you, Yuki," Shirose's voice giggled.

"And she sounds scary," another girl's voice chuckled. It belonged to that fifteen-year-old girl who was called Ito.

Yukiyama grunted, "Okay, just follow me, you three. Be cautious when you all approach Kurosawa too. And Shiro, go wear something warmer, would you? Your nose and ears are red."

"Okay," she said without an argument.

Footsteps moved to take off shoes and removing coats. No one was saying anything either while a different voice of a guy was remarking, "So, we'll be taking care of people at our age? That's interesting. Heh."

"Kato, was it?" Yukiyama questioned

"Yeah, my name is Kato."

Yukiyama then queried, "And you must be Umemura?"

A female's firm voice replied, "Yes."

Shirose then said, "You all can get acquainted later, Yuki. Kurosawa is going to get more upset by the second."

Ito giggled, "Then off we go!"

Akashi heard the footsteps leaving the lobby and then his eyes turned to the doorway. Shirose just entered the living room and her face became blank when they both made eye contact. Without wasting seconds, he ordered, "Go get me warm water."

The white hair girl simpered with a silent thought, tapping her chin while looking at him. Afterwards, she spun on her right foot and headed off without saying anything. Akashi waited and soon she returned with a cup of water in a white mug. But she stood still at the doorway and he furrowed his eyebrows to her. Shortly, she lifted the cup and daringly took a sip. With a smirk on her face.

Before Akashi could react, Akahime had just entered the room with another mug, which the color of it was red. Walking up to him, she presented, "Here you go, Akashi-san."

The mug was handed out to him and he took it quietly. Akahime smiled almost proudly and backed away while he said nothing as he drunk the warm water. It was in the right temperature as well. And then Shirose sneered, "Aw, I'm glad I wasn't the one who got him water. He gave no thanks."

Akahime innocently smiled to her, "That's okay!"

His eyes looked to the girls and Akahime went off to continue her own work. Shirose stayed in the room and leaned back against the wall, still smirking at him. After another moment, she remembered something and smacked her mouth. "I wonder where Shiroro is…" she exited the room without a care in the world.

_Beginning to realize something, Akashi noticed it now. Shirose was rather difficult to read. Ever since he heard her voice, something was off about her. Whether it was because she was unimportant and weak or she was rather transparent. And he recalled the albino snake he did not know about. If the snake, Shiroro, had stayed hidden, Akashi would have never known._

_Unpredictable whiteness. If she willed it enough, she could turn her weakness into her strength someday. Perhaps even threaten him._

_Even so, Akashi felt even stranger toward Shirose. Just what the hell was it? …Oh yes. She was an albino. She was not exactly pure white. That must be the very root of the problem._

Over at the stairs, Murasakibara and Takao were peeking from the higher steps. "Akahime _gave_ Aka-chin water…" Murasakibara mumbled, his eyes squinting.

Takao looked up to him, who was slightly over him. "And what are you going to do, Murasakibara?" Takao grinned nosily.

"…Mission One: it's time to seduce," Murasakibara announced quietly.

"Seriously?" Takao gave him a weird look, losing his grin. "You're _still_ onto that, huh? But what if Akashi never had a twin?"

Murasakibara sighed to him, "Better safe than sorry… right?"

As much as Takao wanted to try to stop Murasakibara, he was slightly interested how the purplehead planned to even seduce someone like Akahime. _Yes, I am very curious_. Takao could not help but smile at the thought.

_The snowstorm had not even started yet. What would happen before then? And what would happen afterwards?_


	7. Year 1 - Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I want to sigh so much right now because I am struggling to update at least once a week. So beware, I might end up delaying a chapter more than 7 days. I will be sure to keep it within 14 days though. Life is taking such a huge bite out of me. DX

Enjoy reading this chapter!

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
Chapter 7**

* * *

In the Little House of Otaru, every guest was finishing up their breakfast meal. Even Tetsuya Two was there and Shiroro was still sticking him like glue. She did not seem hungry as everyone else was. And for some odd reason, there was a red fist mark on Aomine's left cheek. No one dared to ask, but Kagami laughed about it before they sat down to eat.

Shirose was on the second floor, sitting on her ankles on the L-shape, dark green couch. She had the window fully opened and her chin over her arms, which leaned over the edge of the window. Her eyes waited for the snow at the same time as the cold air soothed her heart.

Familiar and lovely footsteps approached her and she slowly turned her head to her left. Yukiyama paused in his steps, standing next to her and remained where he was. She smirked at his expression. He appeared to be bitter and insecure. "Yuki, you look hilarious," she giggled at him.

He grunted and faced away, dropping his body to sit next to her. He avoided eye contact and his eyes were glaring to the side. Shirose snickered again and he frowned to her. "I'm not in the mood for your teasing right now," he noted.

"I can see that," she smiled thinly. His eyes were elsewhere and she inquired, "What's the matter, Yuki?"

There was short silence. "…Just stay away from Akashi," he warned quietly. She laughed sadistically and he slightly blushed. He still refused to look at her. "I'm serious. You better be cautious of that guy. He's bad news."

Her hand touched his right cheek and she made him look directly into her red eyes. "He's bad news to _you_, is that not what you mean?" she chuckled. He grunted quietly and his hand grabbed for her hand to hold it lower from his face. "You're so cute. I like seeing you worried and jealous."

"Who said I was jealous?" he asked, denying it completely.

_Really, was he troubled by the fact about Akashi stealing her away? Yukiyama had confident in himself and about Shirose. There was no way she would choose Akashi over him. Yet, Yukiyama had a very uneasy feeling. He worried if he looked away, Akashi would really take her._

"I'm yours, Yuki," she whispered. Yukiyama's eyes relaxed and she moved closer to him. She kissed his cheek and smirked with her lips on his face. "I love you… but seeing you like this is _really_ adorable. Maybe I'll pretend to be friendly with Akashi—"

Her sentence was cut off when he pulled her roughly and his tongue ran along in her mouth. She stared blankly and his eyes glared into her own. Kissing her lower lips, he murmured, "You don't want to see me jealous, Shiro."

She grinned near his face, "…Yes, I do."

Yukiyama grimaced, "No, you _don't_."

Laughing a little, she got out of his grip on her arms and she moved to sit comfortably next to him. Her head leaned on his left shoulder and she closed her eyes. "You're too cute," she commented in a teasing way. Whereas his hand patted her head, he let out a heavy sigh. He was unable to find more words and stayed still with his left arm around her. "Hmm. Why did you suddenly tell me stay away from Akashi for?"

"Just because," Yukiyama grumbled, holding her tighter.

_He would never let her go. Shirose Shinju belonged to him only. If he had to fight Akashi, Yukiyama would do anything to keep her near by. Furthermore, Akashi would only make her miserable, which was something Yukiyama would never allow to happen since that conceited redhead actually made her cry. Yukiyama never had seen her tears before and it was painful to see her to break down so easily._

_Therefore, he strengthened his resolve to protect her, even if she did not desire for him to do so. Shirose was that kind of girl after all, always standing up on her own two feet._

\~o~/

Entering the dining room, Kurosawa saw some of the guys were getting up from their chairs. Before they thought about leaving, she wanted to tell them something since they were all together. "One more thing before any of you run out," Kurosawa put her right hand on her hip. Some faces turned to regard her. "If there is ever a problem, you can always look for me or the others. We will all wear black clothes, so you won't be confused. Not that you would, but just in case."

"Alright, thanks!" Kise waved to her as he was across the room.

Kurosawa's eyes scanned around and she saw Akahime standing by the kitchen doorway, waiting for orders like always. "Akahime, go and get Shirose to help you wash the dishes soon," Kurosawa ordered with a frown.

_She was simply tired of not seeing Shirose anywhere in sight. The three new temporary workers were cleaning up the bedrooms at the moment. …Hopefully Shirose was keeping an eye on them._

The redhead girl smiled and was going to respond to Kurosawa, but Kagami raised his hand, "I'll help clean the dishes too."

Takao stood up with his hands on the table. "Can we just play snowball fight already?" he sighed rather desperately.

"If you keep pestering on that idea, Takao, no one will play," Midorima unkindly remarked.

_The greenhead was actually in a bad mood. Not being able to see his horoscope, being confined in the house… He was surprised no one asked if he was going crazy or not. Some friends they were, right?_

A light laugh ran down Takao's tongue whilst he pointed to Midorima with his right finger. "Don't tell me you're too scared to play snowball fight without your horoscope, Shin-chan!" he teased with a grin. Midorima grunted, sending the Hawk Eye user a soft glare. "Seriously, if it was the end of the world and there was no more horoscope readings, how do you intend to survive?"

There was never an answer as soon as Momoi chirped merrily, "How about we save the snowball fight on the very last day?"

With a pause, Takao gaped. "…Why?" The last day was going to be next Monday, about six days from now.

"Save the best for last, I agree," Imayoshi smirked, giving his own opinion.

With a louder voice, Kurosawa interrupted with no more delay, "Okay, Akahime, if anyone wants to do the dishes or other cleaning chores, go ahead and let them." She was mentioning this because Kagami was offering to help. All the better, since Akahime was so not attentive in the kitchen sometimes.

"Yes, ma'am," Akahime saluted with a bright smile.

And with that, Kurosawa rushed out of the room with no more words exchanged. There was another thing that came to mind, as a result she headed up the stairs. Soon, she found Yukiyama and Shirose chilling together with the opened window.

"Shirose," Kurosawa frowned. The whitehair girl opened her eyes to stare at Kurosawa. Seconds later, Yukiyama chuckled and got up to close the window. The room was rather cold now. "Alright, Yukiyama, I need you and a couple of the hired workers to run an errand for me."

"What's up?" Yukiyama faced to her while standing. Shirose was still sitting on the couch at ease.

At the same time as Kurosawa crossed her arms to her chest, she notified, "Since we have so many volunteers in the house, I will have to ask you to head to Sapporo. Aomine broke one of our shovels and since the other shovels are too old anyhow, I want you to go buy some new ones. I'll give you the money." And then Kurosawa had a pause, slightly thinking to herself.

Yukiyama nodded, "Who should I bring along with me?"

"I'm not done talking," Kurosawa sighed with a glare. He snickered and Shirose grinned. "Well, never mind. I'll go make a list for you to save me some breaths. And knowing you, I'm quite afraid you'll forget what to buy."

When the black haired woman turned toward the stairs, Yukiyama noted defensively, "Hey, I'm not _that_ careless. I take my responsibilities seriously. And _with_ cautious." Kurosawa only walked down the stairs and said nothing. Hearing Shirose snickering, he raised an eyebrow to her, "What, you think so?"

With her head tilted, she smiled rather sweetly, "That's one of the reasons why I love you."

Yukiyama let out a short laugh and patted on her head. "You sadist," he grinned.

"Nah-uh," she denied with a giggle, touching his hand to hold it with her own. But then he snatched it away from her grasp and she pouted. "Yuki, I want to hold your hand longer."

"No," he smirked, putting his hands in his pockets. "Kurosawa just dumped a mission on me, so I'm going to get two of the three temp workers right now."

She kept pouting as he begun to walk away. "Then don't be out too long," she hoped.

His lips curled up, "As you wish, beautiful."

_Shirose said that because was beginning to feel insecure. She wanted her boyfriend close by. Yes, the fault lied with Akashi. He could make her cry at any time, even if she could hold out on her own. Nonetheless, if she had Yukiyama, she believed she would be stronger that way. And she knew Yukiyama should feel the same as her._

_For the two of them knew each other very well. …Unless Akashi said otherwise._

\~o~/

In the kitchen, Akahime and Momoi were drying dishes with towels whilst Kagami was washing the dishes in the sink. Momoi had started up a conversation about Aohana's cooking and Akahime would try her best to answer anything Momoi inquired.

"Then… you have to cut up the lemons?" Momoi blinked to the redhead. Momoi was referring to it so she could someday prepare for the basketball club at her school.

Kagami scowled to them since they were facing the same wall on the same counter. "Of course you have to _slice_ them," he told her, trying to keep his voice low and somewhat gentle.

"Oh, we do?" Akahime stared with confusion to him. He let out a heavy sigh and went back to cleaning. Akahime giggled nervously and went back to her own work as well.

Soon afterwards, Murasakibara slowly stepped into the room and paused at the doorway. "…Akahime," he called childishly. And slightly demanding.

Directing her view to him, she smiled, "Yes?" She was ready to help him in any way possible.

"Can I have a snack?" he blinked slowly and tiredly.

Momoi glanced back, "Mukkun, please refrain yourself from eating too much."

"Geez, Sa-chin should already know I can't do that," he whined, walking to the table that was cleared of items.

Akahime laughed lightly and set the bowl and towel on the counter. Turning to face him, she nodded, "Sure, but what would you like to eat?"

"Anything sweet," he simpered a little.

She walked toward the refrigerator on her left and then opened it as soon as she reached out. "We still have strawberries," she announced.

"Wait a sec!" Kagami snapped his head to glare at Murasakibara. "Didn't someone mention you bought your own snacks today already, Murasakibara?"

"…I need to save them," the purplehead lazily met his eyes. "Besides, Aka-chin and Akahime said it was okay."

Momoi sighed along with Kagami and no more words were forced out.

Akahime had taken out strawberries in a small, white bowl as well as a covered white container with no label. Closing the refrigerator with her left foot, she approached the table and set the bowl of strawberries and the container in front of the tall guy. Looking up at his puzzled expression, she explained, "Do you like chocolate?"

He nodded, "I do, yes."

She opened the white container and revealed a chocolate whip. His eyes sparkled and she giggled at his face. "Aohana made this herself some time ago," she reckoned. "She said anyone can have it."

"…Can I?" his lips curled up hungrily, his hand eager to get some.

When she nodded, he dipped his finger into the chocolate and she jumped. "Wait, not with your finger!" she hurried away. Opening the drawers close to Kagami, she took out a butter knife with a green handle and she quickly closed the drawer.

He licked his finger and she turned to him with a pout. "Oh, taste yummy," he said with a satisfied face. She handed the butter knife to him and he slowly murmured, "I don't need that."

Akahime pouted yet again and used the butter knife herself. Taking the chocolate whip, she took one strawberry and spread the whip around it. Being careful not to mess up, she beamed happily and offered him her complete art. "There we go!" she giggled.

With a short moment of pause, Kagami was still washing the dishes and Momoi looked back and seemed to want strawberries with chocolate later.

Murasakibara smiled and raised his giant hand to seize Akahime's tiny wrist that held up the strawberry. The redhead blinked as he lowered his head with his mouth opened. Taking a bite of the strawberry from her own hand, she let out a quiet gasp. A few seconds after chewing, he licked his lips, smudging a brown whip at the left corner of his mouth. With his eyes on her, he commented with satisfaction, "Taste good."

Blushing as red as an ripe strawberry, she snatched her hand away from his gentle grip and the half eaten fruit fell out of her fingers and landed on the table. Murasakibara's eyes looked to her while his body was still leaned forward over the table, the same position when he made her 'feed' him. "Um—uh," she backed away, taking her wrist he touched.

"…What?" he smiled babyishly.

"I gotta go!" Akahime raced out of the room with her head lowered.

Murasakibara stared with boredom and did not see her exit. His eyes were on Momoi, who stared disapprovingly to him. "…Sa-chin, is something wrong?" Murasakibara almost smirked. And she could only emit a long breath in respond.

Kagami looked over his shoulder to see what was going on. Out by the doorway of the kitchen, he spotted Takao and Imayoshi peeking into the kitchen with smiles on their faces. "Is there something happening here that I don't know about?" Kagami wondered out loud, letting the water run for a few seconds.

\~o~/

"Shirose, help me!"

The white hair girl actually flinched the moment Akahime hugged her from behind. The window was opened again and Shirose was just about to close it. Her knees were on the sofa and Akahime's head pressed against her back.

"…What's wrong?" Shirose's chin moved to her left shoulder. Akashime buried her face in her back and mumbled words. With a smirk, Shirose told her, "I can't hear you like this."

Akahime let her go and stepped back with her eyes filled with uncertainties. Waiting for Shirose to close the window, Akahime then assumed, "I think someone likes me! What should I do? I already like someone else!"

An amused chuckle escaped the albino's mouth as she locked the window. She turned around and kept her knees on the sofa. "You're not talking about Yuki, are you?" she inquired curiously.

The redhead shook her head right away. "No, of course not!" Akahime replied. Though, she still had feelings for Yukiyama. Then with a whisper, she blushed, "The one I like is Himuro-san…"

Blinking twice, Shirose tilted her head to show her confusion. "Okay, what's wrong again?" she questioned.

Akahime lowered her head and played with her fingers. "Um, I like Himuro-san… but then Murasakibara-san…" she trailed off in her sentence and became too shy.

Laughing sadistically, Shirose grabbed Akahime's left cheek and gave it a soft pinch. "You're so cute when you're like this," she commented with a teasing smirk.

"Shirose…" Akahime bit her lower lip, lifting up her head now. Her eyes were teary. "Please tell me what to do…! I think Murasakibara-san likes me… but I like Himuro-san…!"

_Seriously, Shirose could not stop smiling. Seeing Akahime in this state always made her want to make fun of her friend, whom she considered has her younger sister. Although, Shirose regarded Kurosawa and Aohana as her sisters as well._

"You want me to tell you want to do?" Shirose grinned wider. The redhead nodded back and forth, almost too desperately. With a snicker, Shirose then thought out loud, "Then play along with that guy who you think he likes you. Test his love for you and make sure he's true to you."

Akahime blinked. All of her confusion stopped in that moment. "H-How?" She had forgotten all about Himuro now.

_As cruel as Shirose had in mind, she wanted to use Akahime to get back at Akashi. Maybe make Murasakibara fall for Akahime and then Shirose would tell her to break that purplehead's heart. Or something of the sort. Shirose was not sure how any of this would go._

_She was doing this because Akashi had mentioned his friends were not his slaves. So, she felt like playing around with his 'friends' and return the favor for what Akashi said to her back at the orphanage._

"First, tell me how you _think_ he likes you," Shirose moved off the sofa to stand in front of her. She smiled and tapped her finger on her chin. "Because from what I've seen, Murasaki is too childishly to fall in love."

"His name is Murasakibara Atsushi," Akahime innocently corrected.

"Murasaki is easier to say," Shirose chuckled, patting on Akahime's head. Her friend looked unsure and Shirose told her, "Well now… tell me what happened. Give me every _little_ detail, Akahime."


	8. Year 1 - Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. It was written by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. ...Although, if I were the one who wrote Kuroko no Basuke, I would add more female characters. You know, at least five more girls or something.

Author's note: I'm sure you all noticed by now, but I added "Year 1" next to the chapter titles. I thought it seemed more organized since I had planned a certain something for the story long before the first chapter was written. And I felt it would be appropriate and maybe catch your curiosity.

To the **guest** who left a review for Chapter 7, Shirose's past cannot be revealed as well as everyone else's. XD Sorry. Just wait and read?

* * *

**Red and not so White**

**Year 1  
****Chapter 8**

* * *

"Mukkun, what were you trying to do? _Seduce_ that poor, innocent girl?"

"Wow, Sa-chin _sure_ knows her stuff."

Akashi had wandered into the room from the hall that connected to the lobby. His eyes stared over to Murasakibara and Momoi, who were facing each other in the dining room. Kagami, Takao, and Imayoshi were simply on standby, watching the two quarreling about some kind of incident.

"Please tell me you're at least _interested_ in her," Momoi slapped her own face whilst she shook her head to the tallest man.

"Um—yeah," Murasakibara nodded slowly, his eyes not as convincing.

Momoi pouted and put her hands on her hips. "For some reason, I don't believe you!" she said, feeling incredulous.

At the side, Takao snickered for a good few seconds. Kagami glanced to him with a weird look, "What's so funny?"

Stopping himself from cracking up, Takao winked, "It's just so amusing."

"Yeah," Imayoshi smirked to the side. "_Very_ amusing."

Whereas Akashi walking across the room, Murasakibara patted on his own chest to the pinkhair girl. "Sa-chin, my heart _is_ true to her," he clarified, still using the childishly tone in his voice.

Akashi ambled around them. Earlier he had the red mug to drink warm water again, so he simply wanted to put it back. The others in the dining room were too busy on their subject, which he gave no regard to, and entered the kitchen. Over the counter by the sink, his eyes were glued to the upside white mug over the red and white checkered dish drying mat.

Stepping toward it, he set the red mug on the drying mat and studied both mugs closely.

_Red and white. …That combination was beginning to disturb him. Neither in a bad way nor in a good way. It bothered him because he was not certain how he felt about it._

\~o~/

After a long time, Aohana unlocked both doors of the bedroom and moved out the door where the living room was. Everything was quiet. Did everybody leave? That would be _great_.

She walked out of the living room and then found Shirose in the lobby. The albino girl was behind the counter and her fingers were running along the drawings on the wall. She seemed peaceful and Aohana hated to interrupt since she actually liked Shirose being captivated by the art.

"Shirose," the bluehead called quietly, yet vehemently. The other girl looked to her and smiled. "Where are the guests?"

With a wider smile, she replied, "They went to explore Otaru."

"Oh," Aohana blinked. "…Are they eating lunch out there or are they going to come back and eat here?"

Shirose turned her body to face her across the counter. "I heard they planned to be out for the whole day," she bobbed her head up and down. "In which we'll be making dinner when they come back."

"Okay then," Aohana averted her eyes to scan the room aimlessly.

With a snicker, Shirose was now questioning, "You took your time to cool your head. Are you feeling better now, Aohana?"

"Of course I am," she replied, almost whispering.

A moment of silence… "Yuki took two other temp workers to run an errand for Kurosawa," Shirose notified. "So it's just Ito who's with us. She is with Akahime and they're both getting to know each other upstairs."

_Right_. There were those temporary workers. Aohana never had the chance to meet them, however she did not care too much about it.

"Wah, stop scaring me!" Akahime suddenly cried. Her footsteps ran down the stairs. She appeared at the bottom and seeing the two girls in the lobby, the redhead dashed to them. "Aohana, Shirose! Ito's scaring me!"

The two girls stared blankly as Akahime ran and embraced Aohana tightly from the side. Ito laughed, her own footsteps were heard on the stairs and she jumped to the first floor with a big smile on her face. "But it's true!" the girl of semi-long dark brown hair happily stated.

"What's true?" Shirose smirked to give her attention.

While Aohana patted on Akahime's back to comfort the frightened redhead, Ito walked up to the group of girls and leaned on the counter with her arms. "There are ghosts here," Ito grinned childishly. "One may be a bit aggressive and the other kind-natured."

Akahime covered her ears with fear whilst Aohana and Shirose gave Ito a long emptied stare.

Finally, Shirose sneered, "That would explain why Shiroro doesn't like to leave the bedroom. And how she's constantly with that doggie now as if he was her protection."

"No, no!" Akahime whined, pressing harder on her ears. "That's _not_ true!"

The albino girl laughed lightly for her intention was to freak the redhead out. And it worked perfectly. Aohana frowned to Shirose and Ito snickered as if she was already their close friend.

\~o~/

Finally, Tuesday was coming to an end. All of the basketball lovers were heading up the hill of the Little House of Otaru, with Kagami and Kuroko leading the way. They all talked among themselves. A few were disappointed with the small city of Otaru, but were impressed how polite the people were.

Now reaching for the doorknob, Kagami opened it and said at the same time, "We're back…"

"Welcome home!" Akahime cried helplessly. She was kneeling on the floor and sitting on her ankles. Kagami gave her a strange look on his face and Kuroko peeked through. "It was _soooo_ lonely without you guys!" Tears were in her eyes and her mouth opened as if she was screaming silently.

Kuroko blinked with concern, "What is the matter, Akahime-san?"

"No one wanted to keep me company!" she wiped the small tears with both of her hands.

"Huh?" Kagami raised an eyebrow at her. He had begun to reach for his shoes to take them off, wondering what she was crying about.

"Ito said there were ghosts here!" she exclaimed, looking up to the two guys as her face became pale.

Kagami suddenly slipped even as taking off his shoes and fell forward on the floor. Kuroko stared flatly and Kagami's whole body was trembling with his hands pushing him up from the ground. "W-w-w-w-what?!" Kagami retorted with horror in his eyes.

Behind Kuroko, Midorima and Moriyama appeared at the door. They wondered what was the hold up as the line behind them was forming. Akahime then repeated, "Ito said there were ghosts here!"

"You're lying!" Kagami struggled to get up on his feet. Although, with each shaking step he took, he stumbled. Leaning on the wall to his right for support, a sweat was running down his face. "There can't be ghosts here! …And I haven't heard of any of this!"

In Akahime's view, she saw Kise's head popping out behind Moriyama. "Ghosts?" Kise smiled with interest. "I think that would make some sense. There was murder taken place here, wasn't there?"

"NOOOOOO!" Akahime cried. She slapped her hands to her face and whimpered. "No, no, no!"

"No way!" Kagami shouted, trying to convince himself as he pressed the side of his face to the wall.

Out from the living room, Kurosawa heaved out a sigh at the pity sight. "Akahime, get up and _focus_," she ordered, walking passed behind the redhead.

"But ma'am!" Akahime got up on her feet and trailed after her while shaking. "We should do something!"

Kurosawa stopped at the stairs and faced the girl with a glare. Akahime backed away, shutting her eyes and lowering her head. "You've been working here for a long time, Akahime," Kurosawa reminded rather harshly. "Have you _ever_ heard anything out of the ordinary? You'll be fine!"

Unable to talk back, Akahime gave no word and watched her boss starting up the stairs. _True… but…_ Akahime let out a depressed sigh, playing with her fingers as she stared at the blackhaired woman until she was gone up on the second floor.

"Don't worry, Akahime-chan," Momoi jumped to her side. The redhead blinked at her, almost flinching from the sudden gesture. Momoi giggled and assured, "We have a lot of guys here. They'll protect you and I will too!"

"Who's going to protect me?!" Kagami yelled from where he still was.

Everybody was now in the lobby. Midorima, Kasamatasu, Kise, Himuro, Imayoshi, and Sakurai were heading up the stairs. Takao strolled by too and he patted on Akahime's shoulder. "Yeah, we'll all protect you," he grinned.

"O-okay…" she nodded timidly. Her body pivoted stiffly as Takao went up the stairs and Momoi watched the redhead girl nervously heading behind the front counter.

"Hey, Aka-chin, aren't you going to rest too?"

Akashi was just about to enter the living room. Glancing over his left shoulder, his eyes looked to meet the pair of purple eyes, who stood close by the front door. "I will be fine resting over here," Akashi notified, stepping into the living room.

_Because he felt something would happen and that it would intrigue him. So he wanted to be close by and see it happen before his very eyes._

Kagami stormed out of the house and rather stayed out there for the time being. The door slammed shut. With a pause, Kuroko blinked and went to open the door to keep Kagami company. And then he closed the door behind him to keep the cold air from going into the lobby.

Momoi noticed this and was going to go with them too, except after taking a few steps, she realized Aomine was still in the lobby. "Aomine-kun, what's up?" she stepped up to him curiously.

He was standing there and looking everywhere. "…Nothing," he mumbled at the same time as he rubbed the back of his head. "I was just wondering where Tetsuya Two went."

"Oh, I know, right?" she now scanned the room. "He didn't come with us today too… Maybe he's playing with that snake."

"He's been playing with it for too long already," Aomine frowned.

"The snake's a _her_," Momoi corrected him with a smile as she gazed up at him. As the childhood friends were still discussing the matter, they both headed down the hall that lead to the dining room.

Murasakibara had wandered to the front counter where Akahime was. She was writing in a notebook, being seated in a dark brown chair with black wheels.

"Hmm, Akahime," he called, standing in front of the counter.

When she looked up quickly, she blushed at his childish smile and uttered, "Y-Yes?"

"I want some more of those strawberries," he told her.

She stood up promptly, however she remembered something. "Um, I'm sorry, but didn't you already eat all of them?" she queried. Aohana had mentioned it before the guys returned from their tour of Otaru.

"Reallyyyy?" he wondered playfully. A smile was still on his face.

"Yes," she nodded, her blush leaving her cheeks now.

Murasakibara brought his finger to his lips and tilted his head. "When was that?" he inquired. "…After you fed me?"

Akahime's face was flushed with red and she immediately lowered her face. "I, uh…"

_Remember, Akahime… you shouldn't let him play with you like that. He's probably testing you. Which is why you must_ test_ him too. Be friendly with him… okay? And just do exactly what I say._

"U-um, give me y-your hand," Akahime whispered. She still kept her eyes on the counter as her hand was now holding out to him.

"Mm? Why?" Murasakibara frowned, thinking it was too much work. "…Are you going to give me something?" She nodded hurriedly and kept her head down. He sighed softly and raised his right hand to her.

Uncomfortably, Akahime lifted up her eyes. And then she took his hand and pulled on it. Her mind went blank the moment she pressed her lips to the back of his fingers. Murasakibara stared expressionlessly and her eyes were shut closed. Her lips were still on his fingers. After a few more awkward seconds, his fingers twitched and she let go while backing away with a red face.

"What was that for?" Murasakibara inquired, almost pouting. He had thought she was going to give him some kind of sweet… but _not_ like that.

"I-I-I-I…!" she covered her face, nearly slapping herself. A laugh came beyond the doorway behind the counter. Akahime whined and her hands left her face. Embarrassed tears were in her eyes and she turned around to go after that laughter. "Shiroseeeee! What's so funny?!" Akahime complained with humiliation.

Murasakibara watched the redhead leave the lobby area and she made a right turn in the hall, her voice weakly whinging. And Shirose was still laughing, which started to crack up. Subsequently, Murasakibara stared at his right fingers and pursed his lips with disappointment. _I wanted sweets…_ He thought more or less bitterly.

Short moments later, he lifted his hand higher to his face and pouted more. Then he licked the back of his fingers where Akahime's lips were. …Though, he tasted nothing. ...NOTHING.

From the living room, Akashi was sitting on the couch with his elbow on the arm of the couch and his cheek on his fist. When Murasakibara shifted his body to take his leave, Akashi called, "Atsushi. Come here."

"Eh?" the purplehead now stared at him. Without much delay, he walked into the living room and stood by the doorway. "What is it, Aka-chin?"

Akashi was quiet. Shirose was still laughing. And Akahime was still wailing.

"…There's something I want you to do, Atsushi," Akashi carefully considered.

"Okay," Murasakibara nodded lazily. "I'm ready as soon as you are."

The redhead faintly smiled. "I want you to continue to seduce Akahime," he imperiously demanded. "It is time for the favor to reciprocate."

"Sure thing," Murasakibara easily agreed, looking almost bored. It was his intention in the first place, to make Akahime stay away from Akashi.

_Akashi was not planning on using his friend like how Shirose was doing. But if it were a game Shirose wanted to play, Akashi would be happy to_ crush_ her. By making Murasakibara and Akahime truly liking each other. Even if it were a mere moment._

_The future was already set in motion. And Shirose would not be able to stop Akashi from achieving it._

_And this 'game' would not be as spectacular as one would think_

* * *

Author's note: Okay, good night! For me anyway. :D Please do leave a review, if you can!


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